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ROMANCE OF THE MAINE COAST 



Casco Bay. 

Old York. 

The Sokoki Trail. 

Pemaquid. 

The Land of St. Castin. 



MAINE COAST ROMANCE 



Zbc Sokoki ^raiL 



HERBERT 



L\"ESTER 



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THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

IS INSCRIBED 

By the Author 

TO 

KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN, Litt. D. 

WHOSE WORK HAS ENSURED HER 

A PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF ALL 

LOVERS OF THE SWEET AND 

WHOLESOME IN LITERATURE. 




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Al 



V-A ., 



THE EPISTLE 

DEDICATORY 

IRANKLY, my friend, 
if there is on earth a 
panacea for the ills to 
which the human 
mind is heir, one 
might cry out "Eu- 
reka!" when one has 
known the infinite 
variety of dear Penel- 
ope, the delightful spontaneity of Timothy, the 
whimsical charm of the Goose Girl, and the delicious 
freshness of Rose o' the River. 

11 




12 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY 

A doctor of letters indeed, to diagnose the frail- 
ties and follies of one's kind and then to pen such 
potent prescriptions. But what enjoyments (and 
sane enjoyments, it should be whispered, lest lovers 
of bizarre effects in printer's ink should be disturbed) 
peer like laughing elves from every page of your 
work! And what wealth of inward satisfaction must 
have come to the creator of these merry folk, from 
Mrs. Grubb and Mrs. Ruggles, down to Old Kennebec 
and Jabe Slocum! 

These visionary people, so deftly assembled by the 
spell of an inexhaustible fancy, sound all the famihar 
notes in the gamut of Nature, from the fantastic 
beauty of some imaginary environment to the homely 
experiences of simple lives like our own. There are 
notes of bird songs; the music of the wind-fingered 
leaves, or of the grasses bending under the caress of 
the June breezes; the whirl of a spinning-wheel and 
the monody of the river; the glow of wonderful sun- 
sets ; the drip of the rain on the roof, — ah ! I find 
them all as I follow your wand across the page. 

Thanks to the mythical Cadmus, whose ingenuity 
in the amusing of the royal offspring evolved the 
alphabet; and to the enterprising Gutenberg, who is 
credited with the first movable types, the maker of 
books has ever prospered (and the writer of books as 
well) on that curious juggler's art, the making of 
something out of nothing; for genius is always a sort 
of juggler! 

How fortunate you have been! Like Jason who 
tore the Golden Fleece from the branch above the 



THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY 13 

sleeping dragon in the sacred grove of Colchis, you 
have found your magic wand in some mysterious 
place hidden from others, and I would I might borrow 
the silken thread of your Ariadne. Really, I have 
been looking for the old woman and her peacock as 
I have fished up or down one stream and another, 
but as yet they exist for me only in the imagination 
of the mzard Hawthorne. After all, I apprehend 
you have been more intelligently industrious than 
some others, which is likewise greatly to your credit, 
and that, I apprehend, is the chief secret of genius, 
the ability to be intelligently industrious. 

Upon the topmost of my library shelves, looking 
down at me as I commune with my friends before 
my library fire, is the portrait of a gentle-faced 
w^oman. The glint of the firelight is in her eyes. 
There is a shimmer of its glow in the fair hair that is 
surmounted by a mortar-board of classic suggestion 
that is singularly becoming. Over the shoulders is 
draped a hkewise classic gown, that, with the coronet- 
like mortar-board, tells the beholder that the portrait 
is that of a doctor of letters. 

One takes especial delight in the reading of pages 
wrought by a hand one has held for a moment in 
one's own. There is the subtlety of a virile touch, 
the delicious suggestion of a presence but faintly per- 
ceptible like the odor of a delicate perfume that 
lingers on the air to betray the coming and going of 
a friend. It is like the glow of the sunset on the 
evening cloud to lend a rare charm to the moments. 
Thought takes wings and flies fast and far, and 



14 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY 

Memory, like the dervish's pomatum, quickens the 
vision, and my friend is with me. 

There is a choice companionship that is priceless, 
in this picture of a gracious womanhood. I have 
only to reach over to the hbrary table and pick up 
her last book, and with the covers open, lo! she is 
speaking to me. Her words sound upon the ear 
audibly, and the spell of actuality sways the moments. 
If the rain is beating on the roof, or the hour is a 
quiet one, I apprehend that the doctor is in her 
office at her prescription writing. 

Write on, dear woman, and out of your knowledge 
and observation of hfe weave anew its complexities 
into the charming fabrics that make us more and more 
in love with it ; and may your tribe increase. Whet the 
subtle discernment common to your sex, to a keener 
edge, if it may be, and by a process of painless surgery 
cut out the sores that fester and rankle in the human- 
ity that crowds to our very doors. Like your Tur- 
rible Wiley, in " Rose o' the River," we all suffer from 
"vibrations" of one sort or another, and sometimes 
it takes our neighbor's discrimination to discover it 
to us. It is not always the kindest sort of thing, nor 
done in the kindest way, but it counts just the 
same in the self- weighing process at stock-taking 
time. 

Write on, dear woman, for I doubt not you have 
as many tales stored away in the gray matter under 
that mortar-board of yours as was accounted to the 
story-telling spouse of the fabled Schariar ; tales, too, 
as veracious and fascinating. 



THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY 



15 



Kindly accept this inscription from a fellow 
author as an evidence of his sincere admiration for 
the charming art in literature which is assuredly yours, 
and as a pledge of liis loyalty to a friendsliip which is 
at once a surprise and a pleasure, as well as a valued 
compensation. 

I am most cordially yours, 
HERBERT MILTON SYLVESTER. 




PREFACE 









PREFACE 




IKE good old Isaac 
Walton, the angler 
after the wary trout 
follows the stream, 
up, always up, until 
he finds the bub- 
bling spring isolated 
in the deeps of the 
wilderness, over the 
moist and verdure- 
broidered rim of 
which breaks the 
trickling rill that 
far below among 
the meadow lands broadens out into the placid river, 
deep, silent, inscrutable, and stately in its flow, always 
swept along by the impetus of a living force to 
ultimately merge into the limitless sea. 

19 



20 PREFACE 

The man of scholarly inclination, especially if he 
have the tastes of the antiquarian, and many another 
who finds time to indulge in casual research, follows 
with a like enthusiasm and a like pertinacity the 
thread of tradition, that flowing down the stream 
of the accumulating years is lost in the great 
flood of accumulating historic events that are as 
responsive to the touch of To-day. Like the 
trained and sensitized finger tips of the physician, 
they are counting the beats of a pulse that began its 
iterations wdth the as yet unlocated advent of Time, 
to cease only when the history of men's achievements 
shall cease to be written. 

One hkes to strip the white bark from the birch for 
himself, and with the blade of his own knife shape 
the gold-lined chalice with which he may dip from 
the cool depths of the woodland spring its liquid 
crystal, whose beneficent and healing waters he 
quaffs with a rehsh akin to exaltation. He revels 
in this familiarity with the primeval and his heart- 
beats quicken. His spirit is lifted up and he begins 
the translation of Nature for himself. He deciphers 
the hieroglyphics on the rinds of the centuries-old 
trees. He reads the altitude of the sun in the slant 
shadows. Poems are written on the leaves that strew 
the woodland floors, and he hears the music of the 
spheres in the low-pitched murmurous speech of the 
wind-stirred foliage, among whose drooping mosses, 
pendant from the ancient hemlocks, bearded 

" Like Druids of eld," 



PREFACE 



21 



he discovers Delphic oracles wherein the secrets of the 
centuries and the wisdom of the Infinite are withheld 
from all other than the priesthood of Nature her- 
self. 

Having in view the force of the metaphor, one is 
ever seeking to acquire the subtle mystery by 
which the Daedalian maze of early tradition and the 
somewhat obscure landmarks of contemporary events 
may be discovered, located, and verified, with a view 
always to the possibility of regaining the safe ground. 
With this in view, the author desires the reader to 
go with him over a somewhat, perhaps, unfamiliar 
ground, trusting that in this rehabilitation of the 
early ventures of the earhest known English land- 
promoters, there may yet be found some unculled 
flowers by the wayside. 




^Ili'ff 



Wi A"^ 



V.'. f 




^ 







I. The Forerunners. 

II. The Winter Harbor Settlement. 

III. The Isle of Bacchus. 

IV. The Story of "A Broken Tytle." 
V. The Romance of Black Point. 

VI. The Sokoki Trail. 




PAGE 

Half-title ' 1 

Vignette 5 

Headband, Epistle Dedicatory 11 

Initial 11 

Tailpiece 15 

Headband, Preface 19 

Tailpiece 21 

The Trail 23 

Sketches 25 

Tailpiece 30 

Headband, Forerunners 37 

Initial 37 

On the St. John River 41 

Zeno Chart 44 

Portuguese Map 47 

A Bit of Old Honfleur 50 

25 



26 ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



Autograph, Janus Verrazanus 53 

Reprint of Verrazanus' Map 55 

Ribero Map 56 

Suggestion from the Cabot Map 58 

Gosnold Expedition — Site of his Barricadoe . . 59 

HakluyVs Map 61 

DeLaefsMap 64 

Captain John Smith's Map 65 

Cape North, Cape Breton. Supposed Landfall 

of Cabot, 1497 67 

Des Lines' Map 76 

John Wliite's Map 80 

Michael Lok's Map 84 

Juan de la Cosa's Map 88 

Ruysch's Map 90 

Ruscelli's Mop 94 

Tailpiece 102 

Headband, Winter Harbor Settlement 105 

Initial 105 

Winter Harbor, Mouth of Saco River 107 

The Site of the Vines Settlement 110 

Mouth of Saco, opposite Camp Ellis 115 

Bidde ford Pool, where Vines Wintered, 1616-1617 120 

Inner Mouth of the Pool 129 

An Ancient Wharf, the Pool 134 

The Old Graveyard on Fletcher's Neck 140 

Autographs, Vines and Jenner 143 



ILLUSTRATIONS 27 



PAGE 



Fort Hill, Entrance to the Pool 147 

Wood Island 154 

Stage Island 159 

Basket Island and Breakwater 162 

Stratton and Bluff Islands 166 

The Gooseberries, East Point, Fletcher's Neck . . 171 

Tailpiece 172 

Headband, the Isle of Bacchus 175 

Initial 175 

Chart of Richmond's Island 178 

Map of Cape Elizabeth 185 

Richmond's Island 188 

Pond Cove 192 

Boaden's Point, Mouth of Spurwink River . . . 195 

Mackworth Island 200 

The Bold Shore of Cape Elizabeth 206 

Buena Vista — Spurwink River Bar 208 

Hid)bard's Rocks, Higgin's Beach 211 

Pooduck Shore 214 

Cape Elizabeth's Oldest Church 220 

Autographs of Winter and Jordan 223 

Site of Boaden's House, Spurwink Ferry . . . 226 

Old Robinson House 234 

Cape Elizabeth Light 237 

Tailpiece, The Signet Ring 240 

Headband, The Story of ''A Broken Tytle" . . . 243 

Initial 243 



28 ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Cape Small Point, Sand Dunes 246 

Sabino 250 

Signers of Patent of 1621 255 

Fort Scammel, House Island, where Levett Built 

His House 260 

John Dee's Map of Lygonia 262 

Old Man of the Sea, Pemaquid Point 267 

A Scarborough Fisher-' s Hut 270 

Vignette 274 

Fisher's Hut, Ogunquit 277 

Cliff Walk, Higgin's Beach 283 

Cape Porpoise 287 

Old Draw and Beach, Kennebunk 299 

Tailpiece 301 

Headband, The Romance of Black Point .... 305 

Initial 305 

Map of Black Point 310 

Confluence of Dunstan and Nonsuch Rivers . . 314 

Autographs, Cammoke and Jocelyn 315 

Front's Beach, Prout's Neck, south of Boaden's 

Fernj 320 

Map of Blew Point 323 

On the Road to Dunstan' s. Boulter's Creek . . . 329 

Site of Cammock's House on Prout's Neck . . . 335 
Ferry Rocks, Cammock's Neck, Bar at Mouth of 

Owascoag 340 

Northern River 351 



ILLUSTRATIONS 29 



PAGE 



Scottoiv's Hill 354 

Site of Scottow's Fort 359 

The Sinuous Nonsuch 367 

Libbey's River, near Site of Corn Mill 369 

Massacre Pond 373 

Old Front's Neck House 376 

Ferry Flace, Garrison Cove 378 

Black Rock, Site of Alger's Flakeyard 381 

Castle Rocks, Froid's Beach 383 

Southgate House, Dunstan Abbey 385 

A Modern Byway of Old Scarborough 388 

Head of Alger's Creek, near Site of Westbrook's 

Mill .- . 389 

Winnock's Neck 390 

Site of the Old Plaisted Garrison 391 

Old Richard Hunnewell House 394 

Site of Storer Garrison 396 

Mill Creek 398 

Tojnb of King Family 400 

Richard King House, 1745 401 

Autograph of Thos. Westbrook 403 

Tailpiece, Indian Knoll 404 

Headband, Sokoki Trail, Hiram Falls 407 

Initial 407 

Mount Washington, from the Saco 412 

Chocorua, from the Saco 420 

Conioay Meadows, Pegwacket 424 



30 ILLUSTRATIONS 

[ PAGE 

White Horse Ledge, Pegwacket 427 

Wadsworth Hall 430 

The Wadsworth Silhouettes 432 

Artisfs Brook, Conway 441 

Fort Mary, 1699 444 

Saco Block House, 1730 447 

Mount Willey 450 

Echo Lake 453 

Chart of LovewelVs Pond 455 

Autograph, John Lovewell 457 

LovewelVs Pond 458 

Lovewell Monument 461 

Battle Brook 463 

Tailpiece, The City 465 




PRELUDE 



Rain is on the roof ; visions crowd the stair; 

The magic of an olden song is on my pane ; 

I stroll along the tide-drenched sands again. 
Wind-sped, with noiseless footfall, here or there 
To seaward creep the specters of the air. 

A dun-hued strand, from off a tangled skein 

Of inlet, marsh, and bluff, its wrinkled stain 
Unwinds betwixt the sea and wood; and where 
Loomed storied pile and sculptured frieze, is naught 

Save turcjuoise waters — shores of cloth of gold — 
Chanting the slow dirge of years, subtly wrought 

With tales of voyagers bold, lore of old 
Saco, when Fort Mary's sunset-gun brought 

The gray dusk into Night's deepening fold. 



THE FORERUNNERS 




THE FORERUNNERS 



F one were to search for the beginning 
of the Sokoki trail, to follow it down 
the unknown and unknowable span 
of years to its tragic blotting out 
along the sands of Lovewell's 
pond, one would go to the origin 
of the great Abenake family whose 
smokes for unnumbered centuries, 
uprising above the shag of wilder- 
ness woods of this nuova terra of 
Gomez, blew away one ill-starred day to seaward, 
to lightly kiss the dun sails of Cabot, perhaps, but 
surely those of Cortereal, Du Monts, Weymouth, 
and Capt. John Smith; for these latter met the 
aborigine, to whom these pale-faced adventurers and 
their white-winged ships were but forerunners of 
greater things. 

As to the origin of the Ahenake, the original Indian 
family of northeastern North America, if one were to 

.37 




38 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

delve deeply enough into the history of races, cross- 
ing over the desert of conjecture into certainty, one 
might undoubtedly trace its ancestral beginnings over 
the northwestern ice floes of Behring Strait into the 
northern hmits of Asia; but that were an impossi- 
bility, for the lack of even savage tradition. Only 
racial characteristics are left for the ethnologist. 

The Abenake, of which the Sokoki were a strong 
branch, are worthy of a moment's attention, for the 
reason that the reader is about to make a personally 
conducted tour through the country once the patri- 
archal domain of this Indian family, of whom the 
famous Paugus was the last and most notable chief. 
According to M. Ventromile, the Abenake comprised 
a large portion of the Indian race commorant to the 
country between Virginia and Nova Scotia. In fact 
they comprised it in its entirety. 

The Abenake, or to designate them correctly, the 
Wdnhdnhdghi^ or more literally still, Wdnbdnhdn (the 
people of the Aurora Borealis), were the original 
Indians, the original settlers of the country, the 
limitations of which have already been given, and they 
may be said to have occupied the whole northeast 
section of North America even as far as Labrador, 
including as well the aborigine of Newfoundland. 
Father Ducreux brought out a history of Canada in 
1660. It contained a map upon which the Abenake 
are located. Perhaps he may be regarded as good an 
authority as any by reason of his superior opportunity 
for intercourse with the Indian himself, and as a 
propagandist of the Jesuit religion and French influ- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 39 

ence among the Abenake tribes. His limitations of 
the Ahenake, however, are somewhat narrow, as 
compared with the deductions of M. Ventromile, for 
the former locates this widely dispersed family 
between the Kennebec and Lake Champlain, — their 
main settlements being on the headwaters of the 
Kennebec, the Androscoggin, and the Saco Rivers. 
Another river is sho^vn upon the Ducreux map, for 
which no name is given, but which M. Ventromile 
supposes to be the Presumpscot. One error of the 
Jesuit historian is to be noted, — he locates the 
Sokoquies between Boston and the Connecticut River ; 
but it was along the Saco that this one of the five 
great Abenake villages was located, and with a second 
on the Kennebec and a third on the Penobscot, the 
tale of the Abenake settlements of importance in the 
afterward province of Maine was told. 

Rale in his dictionary gives the names of these 
villages as JVdrrdntswak (where the river falls away), 
the last village of this great family, and wjiich is 
commemorated by the Rale monument near the 
banks of the beautiful Kennebec in the near vicinage 
of modern Norridgewock ; Anmessukkantti (where 
there is an abundance of large fish), Pdmimvdnbskek 
(it forks on the white rocks). M. Ventromile says: 
''These three villages are those of this State." The 
names of the two Abenaki villages of Canada are 
Nessaioakamighe (where the river is barricaded with 
osier to fish, or where fish is dried by smoke), and it 
is the present village of St. Francis of Sales. The 
other Canadian Abenaki village is St. Joseph or 



40 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Sillery, called formerly by the Indians Kauiiskiva- 
luangachit (where they catch salmon with the spear)." 
This author credits the Ahoink-e with "evident marks 
of having been an original people in their name, 
manners, and language. They show a kind of civil- 
ization which must have been the effect of antiquity, 
and of a past flourishing age." 

There has been nmch curious and interested 
research to resolve the word Abcnake into its original; 
and, from a careful and exhaustive examination of 
the authorities, M. Ventromile is undoubtedly correct 
when he assumes Wanh-naghi to be that original — 
Wanh (white), meaning "the breaking of the day," 
and nagki (ancestors), or the east-land ancestors, to 
translate liberally. 

Capt. John Smith was a careful and curious anno- 
tator of what he saw in his voyages to his "New 
England," and his relations of the North American 
Indians, or that aborigine who frequented those parts 
of the coast visited by him, are among the earliest and 
most authentic. This was in 1614, when he named 
the Isles of Shoals the Smith Isles. After these 
relations of Smith, come those of others, and which 
may be good in part, or bad in part, as their state- 
ments of fact may be founded upon impression or 
observation concerning tribal location or assign- 
ment. 

Mr. Frederic Kidder makes eight tribes out of the 
Ahenake family, of which the Sokoki or Pequairkets 
were one, and whose habitat was along the Saco 
River until 1725, when the remnant of that once 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



41 



powerful tribe, decimated by plague and the larger 
part of a century of warfare with the English settlers, 
emigrated to Canada to become lost in the folds of 
other tribes who Ukewise found among the woods of 
St. Francis of Sales a brief panacea ^or the disinte- 
gration which had begun long before the overthrow 
of the French domination south of the St. Croix, a 
disintegration that was most sharply accentuated by 




ON THE ST. JOHN RIVER 



Moulton and Harmon in their raid upon Norridge- 
wack, its destruction, and the death of the astute 
and subtle diplomat, the Jesuit Rale. With the 
Jesuit Mission went the treacherous savage. 

The beginning of the Sokoki trail for the student 
of history and the romanticist begins with the 
flitting across the aboriginal vision of ghostly sails 
breaking the blue shell of the sea horizon, as strangely 
propelled landward and coastwise by the invisible 
Spirit of the Wind, with huge bellying wings flapping 



42 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

and snapping, giving utterance to strident and unto- 
ward noises, and whose decks were thronged with the 
palUd apparitions of the Old World civiUzation. 
These were the ships of the early explorers, and one 
is certain that the Indian watched these monstrosities 
of saiHng craft from the tree-embossed crags of the 
coast from Cape Breton to Cape Cod. He hid him- 
self from Cabot to be kidnapped by the Cortereals, 
hunted by Verrazzano, to be employed as a guide by 
Du Monts, and courted and educated by Weymouth 
and Smith. Such were the aborigine's first ghmpses 
of eastern civiUzation, perhaps; for there are those 
who have acquired something of a respectable fol- 
lowing, and who assert with definiteness of detail, that 
even Columbus had his predecessors, so far as any 
legitimate claim could be made to being the first dis- 
coverer of the American continent. 

If one listens to Oviedo, one has the story of 
Garcilasso de la Vega who sailed from Madeira, and 
who being driven west discovered land, "and who 
being shipwrecked, was harbored by Columbus in his 
house," and who is supposed to have died in 1484, 
having given his knowledge to Columbus who after- 
ward profited by it: The date of La Vega's dis- 
covery does not appear ; but De Galardi " states it as 
an indisputable fact" in his work published in 1666 
which he dedicates to the Duke of Veraguas, a descen- 
dant of Columbus. It is claimed by others that 
Columbus gained his knowledge of a western conti- 
nent from the Sagas of the voyages of Eric the Red 
upon his voyage to Iceland, in 1477. It is undis- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 43 

puted that Iceland and Greenland were commercially 
acquainted at that time, but the scholarly Winsor 
puts forward the supposition that "if Columbus 
knew of them, he probably shared the beUef of the 
geographers of his time that Greenland was a penin- 
sula of Scandinavia." 

Winsor goes on to say, ''The extremely probable 
and almost necessary pre-Columbian knowledge of 
the northeastern parts of America follows from the 
venturesome spirit of the mariners to those seas for 
fish and traffic, and from easy transitions from coast 
to coast by which they would have been lured to 
meet the more southerly climes." 

De Costa accepts the Icelandic theory, while Ander- 
son claims it distinctly, and it must be admitted with 
a great deal of reason. Estancelinin his "Researches," 
etc., Paris, 1832, claims that Pinzon was a companion 
of Cousin, the Dieppe navigator who reached South 
America in 1488-1489, became an inmate of Colum- 
bus's family, and who was later associated with 
Columbus as his pilot in 1492. Parkman is inchned 
to accept the story, and Paul Gaffarel considers the 
voyage of Cousin as " geographically and historically 
possible." Even Columbus himself makes mention 
of having found a "tinned iron vessel" among the 
natives of Guadaloupe, which leads him to admit 
traces of an earlier European vessel having come by 
some means to this western continent. As Winsor 
says, "strange islands had often been reported; and 
maps still existing had shown a behef in those of San 
Brandan and Antillia, and of the Seven Cities founded 



44 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



in the ocean waste by as many Spanish bishops, who 
had been (h-ivcn to sea by the Moors." 

Desi)ite the fog, there is a deal of sohd gi-ound in 
these relations, and I am of the opinion that Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon was here before Colmnbus. Stripped 








'SiLl 



00 



^ 




of the romance that has ever been the garb of Colum- 
bus at the hands of the earlier writers, he does not 
appear to have been the great character he has been 
drawn : for his shallows are as apparent as his deeps, 
and })erhaps more so. 

. From the alleged discovery of the Fortunate 
Islands by the Carthagenians, nearly thirteen hun- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 45 

dred years, accordirif^ to Winsor, elapsed before 
B^thencourt settled his colony upon them, but they 
appeared u[)on Sanuto's map of 130(), according to 
Camden, as wvW as upon another well-authenticated 
map of 1.351. 

Thirteen hundred years ! 

News traveled slowly in those days, to be sure. 
There were no iron ganglia so the world might sense, 
as it were, on the instant the doings or achievements 
of men. There was no Hoey, no Morse, and the ink 
horn was as dilatory as the contemporary donkey one 
still finds among the hills of Spain. 

"A querulous inquiry! " shouts the matter-of-fact 
annalist. "Heresy!" cries another, whose house of 
cards is toppling as some new document is wrenched 
from its musty hiding-place. Well, much that was 
once heresy is now a well-recognized truth. The 
conscientious delver in history, especially that which 
appertains to the sometime centuries, finds the 
interrogation point to be about the only [junctuation 
type in the font. 

But to the Indian the ex|)lorer of the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries must have seemed a veri- 
table Roc, had he ever heard of so wonderful a bird, 
low-flying from headland to headland under the 
shadow of his wide sails; dipping a pr(jw in the St. 
Lawrence; folding his huge wings for a night's anchor- 
age in some placid bay; prodding the windings of 
some sinuous Sassanoa; grubbing the sassafras woods 
of Cape Cod for that aromatic; building houses of 
stone and wood in the mouth of tlie St. Croix, or 



46 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

kidnapping here or there a half-hundred Abenake for 
the markets of Spain, Cortereal-fashion. 

And it is this same Cortereal who came after the 
Cabots, who may be regarded, after Cabot, 1498, as 
one of the earhest of these navigators who came and 
went laden with the incubus of their imaginings as 
they made the home port, from time to time, with 
varying fortunes. 

It was in 1495 when Spain was occupied with the 
imaginings of Columbus, who still held to the cer- 
tainty of a direct northwestern passage to the Indies, 
that young Immanuel succeeded to the throne of 
Portugal. Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese, had been 
despatched to the Indies some time before with some 
idea of discovering a shorter route, but found his way 
thither by the Cape of Good Hope. Immanuel was 
incUned to make another venture with the same 
object in view, but to the westward, following the 
course of the Cabots, of which he had gathered suffi- 
cient indications, and he hoped thereby to find a way 
to the land of spices, the odorous Zipango, and through 
what might be thought reasonably to exist, a north- 
west passage between the islands supposed to have 
been located by Cabot. With this in mind, he engaged 
Gasper Cortereal, who was of a somewhat famous 
family of navigators, and which had been created of 
the Portuguese nobility by an admiring and grateful 
king, — loao Vaz Cortereal being the hereditary 
governor of Terceira, — a distinction accorded him 
for his alleged discoveries and great learning in matters 
of navigation. 




THE SOKOKI TRAIL 47 

It is asserted by the Portuguese that loao Vaz 
anticipated Columbus some thirty years in the dis- 
covery of the Western Continent. Be that as it may, 
the more one reads the less sure is one of the old 
stamping-ground. It is, however, undoubtedly a fact 
that this "New Found Land" was known to the 
Basques and Icelandic mariners in its more northern 
limits long before Columbus found his way to His- 
paniola. This belief in Columbus is a sort of family 
tradition, and these 
abrupt deviations 
from the old ruts 
give one a jolt now 

and then which is \iw ^a covue ^ 

somewhat painful to KcoU -o^ 

the mental dyspep- ^^ . . "^"^C 

tic in matters of " AXQine," A^y^vyK^-^^- 
historical research. — ^^i? v 
However startling \or\uc^Ui:\< Ifof 

the assertion that 
Amerigo Vespucii never saw the continent which 
received his name, nevertheless the assertion is true, 
and is as well estabUshed as could be expected, with 
so much rubbish of the Peter Martyr sort. Gay 
estabhshes the Vespucii alihi completely. 

The Cortereals, both lost on these new shores, and 
possibly amid the fogs of Labrador, entering into the 
projects of Immanuel, fitted out jointly a small fleet 
of two vessels with which Gaspar sailed away from 
Lisbon in 1500 to the New World. He soon returned 
from this voyage. Gaspar was the son of loao Vaz, 



48 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the Governor, and had been doubtless initiated into 
the mystery of navigating to these new lands. He 
had a sufficient Ucense from Immanuel, and his course 
was to the northwest from Lisbon, and upon his return 
he reported the discovery of land in a high latitude, 
possibly Greenland, which name was given the coun- 
try by him. But few details are preserved of this 
first voyage; but the interest it aroused was such 
that the following year another expedition was de- 
spatched. He set out from Lisbon with three ships 
on the 15th of May, 1501, changing his course to a 
more westerly direction which he kept for a distance 
of two thousand miles, and which brought him to a 
country unknown up to that time. He followed the 
coast a great distance, but found no end to it, but 
instead, several large rivers, among which was possibly 
the Saco. He concluded it to be a part of the coun- 
try discovered by him in his voyage of the year before 
still farther to the north, to which, by reason of ice 
and snow, he was unable to attain. He was con- 
vinced that the country was not an island. It was 
populous and a number of the natives were carried 
to Portugal and sold as slaves. A bit of broken 
sword was found, also a pair of silver earrings, which 
indicated a previous acquaintance with the Euro- 
peans. But two of the three ships that sailed away 
in May ever returned. The first came into Lisbon 
October 8, and another three days later; but that 
one which was piloted by Gaspar never returned. 
In fact, nothing was ever heard of Gaspar Cortereal 
after, although his brother Miguel fitted out a search- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 49 

ing expedition of three ships, saiUng away in 1502, 
May 10. Upon the arrival of this fleet on the Ameri- 
can coast, the fleet was divided the better to prosecute 
the search, agreeing beforehand upon a rendezvous 
upon the 20th August. Only two of this fleet met 
as arranged, and from this date on for some time 
these two ships waited for Miguel. Miguel did not 
appear, and the season being somewhat advanced, 
sail was made for Lisbon. This was the last ever 
known of Miguel. The next year a search party was 
sent out for Miguel, but its errand was a fruitless one. 
This ended practically the efforts of Portugal to find 
a new way to the Indies. Little has come down 
from the Cortereals, for no extended reports of their 
voyages exist. 

The consolidation of France into a united kingdom 
dates from around 1524, when the wife of Francis I. 
gave the hereditary succession of Brittany to the 
French crown. It had been a country of feudal 
fiefs, of which Normandy and Brittany were notable 
as containing many mariners. Among the most 
noted of these were the Angos of Dieppe which along 
with Honfleur and St. Malo was well known for its 
daring sea voyagers. The Brittany fishermen were 
on the coasts of Newfoundland as early as 1504, of 
which Cape Breton, which received its name from 
them, is a substantive proof ; for it is found upon the 
earliest maps. 1506 found Jean Denys of Honfleur 
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two years later 
Thomas Aubert, of Dieppe, brought to Brittany sev- 
eral savages from the North American coast. These 



50 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



adventurings gave a substantial prestige to the 
Bretons, and their services at a later period were 
much in demand as pilots to America. The Bretons 
were a hardy race and great fishermen who made 
long voyages, and it is not unlikely that Beliefs 




A BIT OF OLD HONFLEUR 



claim has merit when he states unequivocally, that 
these fishermen were acquainted with this new coun- 
try years before the Cabots looked out over its ice 
floes. Bellet says the Basques had caught codfish, 
'^baccalaos" along the Newfoundland coast two hmi- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 51 

dred years before Columbus touched at Hispaniola, 
which from a geographical and historical point of 
view is as likely to be true, as that Columbus was 
the first European who ever saw any part of the 
western continent. The isolated situation of the 
Basques, local policy, and lack of disseminate knowl- 
edge would naturally make them secretive. They 
might have known of the Cabot voyages, although 
they occurred some six years before those of the 
Cortereals which were contemporary with the naming 
of Cape Breton. 

The fame of the Breton fishermen had extended to 
Spain as early as 1511, nor was jealous Spain averse 
to employing them as pilots to America, notwith- 
standing her own mariners had for the previous 
nineteen years been making almost constant voyages 
thither. Bellet in a degree has a right to be taken 
seriously. 

About 1518, according to M. d'Avergne, who 
evidently quotes Lescarbot, Baron de Lery attempted 
a French settlement somewhere along this American 
north coast; but it proved a failure. It is thought 
the cattle which years after were found on Sable 
Island were originally brought hither by Lery, and 
that they had propagated from the original stock. 
It was two years before this effort of de Lery, that is, 
about 1516, that the Breton Nicholas Don is supposed 
to have sailed athwart the coast of Maine from his 
description of the people of the country, according 
to Peter Martyr, who refers to a letter written by 
Don to the Spanish emperor. He says "he had 



52 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

found the people of that country of good manners 
and fashion, and that they wore collars and other 
ornaments of gold." 

Don doubtless found the Indians as he described 
them, but as to the ornaments of gold, one is reminded 
of the romancing of Ingram about the famous city 
of Norombegua. No doubt the Indians were pos- 
sessed of ornaments of crude copper which may have 
been obtained from the Indians about the great lakes, 
or taken in some of their warlike excursions, for the 
Algic race to which these aborigines belonged were 
great rovers, and outside of their principal villages 
gave full play to their nomad inclinations. 

This country of the explorer was a far country, and 
required something of endurance and a high order of 
courage to accompHsh the voyage necessary to reach 
it, and the httle ships of the time, whose triple decks 
offered little resistance to the tempestuous weather 
often encountered, seem hardly to have been the 
craft for rough outside buffetings; and it was for this 
reason that one story is good until another is told, 
that there was so much of the marvelous in the 
relations of the New World experiences. The 
greater the lie, the greater the explorer's credit at 
Court; and these explorers in many cases seemed to 
vie each with the other in these wild tales, as if there 
were something of a mutual interest in imposing upon 
the credulity of the gaping populace who undoubt- 
edly thronged the wharves as these homecoming 
adventurers warped their weatherbeaten craft to 
one berth or another. As for the French explora- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 53 

tions, Giovanni da Verrazano, supposed to be a 
Florentine by birth, born somewhere about 1480, set 
out from France under the royal license. In 1521 
he was known as a French corsair, having before that 
been a traveler of some experience, as he had been 
in Egypt and Syria, quite a journey for those days. 
He had some acquaintance with the East Indies. He 
is credited with having sailed one of Aubert's ships 
out of Dieppe to America in 1508. In his career 
as a corsair, he levied tribute on the Spaniards as 
they went to and from their American provinces, 
many of them laden heavily with treasure, under 
the name of Juan Florin, or Florentin. Doubtless 



a4Uid \9nr^ 





it was this portion of his career that gained him the 
interest of Francis I. It is credibly declared by the 
annalists of those times that his first voyage of dis- 
covery was connected with one of these freebooter 
cruises. This voyage was made probably in the 
year 1523, and according to the Spanish chronicles, 
this bold highw^ayman of the seas in that year cap- 
tured a considerable shipment of gold and silver sent 
by Cortes to the emperor of Spain. Verrazano, or 
Florin, as one chooses, took his prize into La Rochelle. 
Verrazano in his letter to Francis I makes men- 
tion of the success of his depredations on Spanish 
commerce. On his first venture of discovery he set 



54 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

out with four ships, but was driven by tempes- 
tuous weather to return to Brittany, the Normandie 
and Dauphine being disabled. Later, he continued 
his voyage with the Dauphine, leaving the re- 
mainder of his fleet behind. January 17, 1524, he 
was at the Desirtas Rocks, near Madeira Island. He 
is supposed to have made his first landfall in the 
region of Cape Fear, on the Carolina coast. After 
his long voyage his first search was for a harbor, and 
the prow of the Dauphine was turned to the south- 
w^ard for ''fifty leagues." The coast still continued 
low and sandy and flat. Finding no safe anchorage, 
he shaped his course northward until he came to a 
higher country but no satisfactory harbor. He kept 
to his climbing the coast until he came to the mouth 
of a great river that widened into a reach of waters 
three leagues in circumference, evidently the Hudson 
River. Taking up his voyage again, he sailed to the 
eastward until he sighted a triangular-shaped island, 
which he named Louisa, for the king's mother. This 
is supposed to have been Block Island, though by 
some it is set down as Martha's Vineyard. Verra- 
zano did not land here, but kept along the coast to 
what appears to be the vicinage of Newport. He 
notes five islands and a bay twenty leagues around. 
He makes copious notes as he sails, and his descrip- 
tions are fairly recognizable. It appears that he 
remained here about two weeks. Ramusio says it 
w'as May 6th he hoisted sail, sailing fifty leagues 
easterly, when the coast made a sharp turn to the 
north, along which he kept for the distance of a 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 55 

hundred leagues. This would have taken him beyond 
Boston and left him, possibly, along the York shore, 
and perhaps off Winter Harbor. He found the 
natives clothed in skins and he mentions the high 
mountains inland, which could have been none other 
than the \Vliite Mountains, and it is off the coast of 
southern Maine that these mountains are most easily 
distinguishable. He notes that the 
lands were more open, and that there 
were no woods, which is typical of 







the wide marshes that 
spread out about 
Hampton, and still 
farther east beyond the 
Piscataqua. And in this 



connection he mentions that he counted thirty-two 
islands in the distance of one hundred and fifty miles. 
Doubtless the Isles of Shoals were among these, and 
they were perhaps among the first that he noted. It 
is not improbable that these islands were those of 
Casco Bay, as he makes no particular mention of 
so large an aggregate of islands elsewhere. From 
this he keeps on to Cape Breton. From thence 
he sails direct to France, arriving at Dieppe early in 



56 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

July, His letter to the king is dated at Dieppe, 
July 8, after which Verrazano drops out of sight. 

Biddle thinks that Verrazano went to England, 
and was there employed as a pilot, and that he is 
the Piedmontese pilot who was killed and eaten by 
the savages in Rut's expedition of 1527. Ramusi 
says he went a second voyage to America and died 
there. Asher agrees with Biddle. An old cannon 
was discovered in the St. Lawrence which has been 
associated with the Verrazano expedition and ship- 



,_-'"<^m- 



v-^ ^M 




'^'^l^.( 



ca/i,^ r u^o<,.^^ 



'"-Wv//.. ^'^^^VT^-K; 



^ifoefo- i^o<^. 



iy% 



wreck there. According to the Spanish archives, 
Juan Florin was captured by the Spanish in 1527 and 
hung at Colmenar, somewhere between Toledo and 
Salamanca; but according to a French document 
Verrazano was at that time fitting out a fleet of 
three ships for a voyage to America. WHiatever 
might have been his fate is uncertain, but these 
varying accounts show the versatility of the annalist 
of the times. 

About this time another Portuguese saile 1 from 
Corunna, 1525, occupying ten months in his voyage, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 57 

and during which time he is reputed to have sailed 
from Cape Breton to Florida. He gave the Penob- 
scot the name "River of Gomez," according to 
Ribero. He named the Hudson the "San Antonio.", 
His explorations were extensive, but the accounts of 
his labors are scanty. The northwest passage was 
the grand quest of all, and that Gomez failed to dis- 
cover such sufficiently accounts for the silence of the 
Spanish historian as to the voyage of Gomez. 

Thevet is reputed to have voyaged hither, but the 
stories of his discoveries are so conflicting that the 
authorities do not give much of credence to his 
relations. 

There was an old saw, 

"The time once was here, 
To all be it known, 
When all a man sailed by, 
Or saw, was his own. " 

And it so happened that out of these many sailings 
by the English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French 
that there was some confusion as to priority of title, 
if such could exist without actual occupation and 
colonization. 

During the reign of Henry VIH, Edward VI, and 
Mary, the discoveries of the Cabots were apparently 
forgotten. The great opportunities for fishing along 
the northeastern coast of America were taken advan- 
tage of in the most desultory way; but the idea of 
colonization seems never to have entered the English 
mind. There was an interregnum of nearly eighty 



58 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



years between the voyages of the Cabots and that of 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in 1583, who was lost at sea. 
Raleigh planted a slender colony on the Carolina 
coast, but it was an ill-starred venture, as ultimately 
the colonists starved or were slaughtered by the 
savages. These ventures, however, were not with- 




A S^e^^ ta,rT\-o.^ 



"^7 



^^.- 



-^-Wir^^' 




out their value, as the Virginias might not so soon 
have been opened up to the Enghsh settler. 

The French were not more energetic, for not only 
was the north coast, the " Baccalaos" of Cabot, 
ignored until the arrival at the St. Croix of the Du 
Monts expedition, but the whole delightful coun- 
try south was left unexplored until the coming of 
Hendrik Hudson, in the Half Moon, in the year 1609, 
and who made his first landfall at Nova Scotia, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



59 



whence he sailed as far south as Chesapeake Bay, 
exploring the whole coast, with stoUd Dutch persis- 
tence, and it is not unUkely that he dropped anchor 
within the shelter of our Winter Harbor, as he noted 
the rivers carefully, especially the Hudson, up which 
he sailed some distance, giving it his name, by which 
it is still known. Hudson could have had no better 
memorial than this grand river of the Kaatskills. 
Hudson was more fortunate in this than his contem- 




£iu||i/l|unl( 



GOSNOLD EXPEDITION — SITE OF HIS BARRICADO 

poraries, for it seems to be the only instance of like 
character. 

Before the voyage of Du Monts, 1604-1605, the 
adventurous impulses of the English were stirred 
somewhat to despatch in the summer of 1602 the 
nucleus for a New World plantation. This expedition 
left EngHsh Falmouth under Gosnold, and after a 
short voyage, in point of time they landed on the 
Massachusetts south shore, where they were to lay the 
foundation of the new colonization; but the strange 



60 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

ness of their surroundings, and the wild and uncouth 
character of the aborigine, and principally their lack 
of courage, sent them all aboard ship as it made 
preparations for the home voyage. So they sailed 
back into Falmouth harbor as empty handed of 
achievement as they had departed. The only result 
was the giving of the name of Queen Elizabeth to 
the island upon which they landed. 

Perhaps the succeeding ventures were due as much 
to Richard Hakluyt, prebendary of St. Augustine, as 
to any other, as he seems to have been one of the 
most lively factors in encouraging voyages of dis- 
covery to the new country by the Bristol merchants. 
Hakluyt's efforts resulted in the departure of Martin 
Pring with the Speedwell and the Discoverer the next 
year, 1603. Pring sailed away from Bristol April 10, 
1603, and on Jmie 7 he was at the mouth of the 
Penobscot. Here was a safe anchorage, good fishing, 
and a pleasant country. The Fox Islands in Penob- 
scot Bay got then- name from Pring at this time. 
From the Penobscot he followed the trend of the 
coast, noting as he sailed the inlets and rivers, and 
here and there a spacious bay, until he reached the 
Piscataqua, up which he sailed to discover it to be 
hardly more than an arm of the sea. Retracing his 
course, he kept still southward, following the river 
channel, to turn Cape Ann, thence cutting across 
Massachusetts Bay, until he came to the English land- 
fall of the preceding year. Here was Whitson's Bay, 
overlooked by Mount Aid worth, "a pleasant hill," 
both sturdy Enghsh names of Pring's selection. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



61 



Pring's main object was to make a close survey of 
the coast, and incidentally to acquire some com- 
mercial profit, which he did, filling his small ships 

Nj Iceland 







with sassafras and furs. In October he had reached 
Bristol, his voyage out and home having been made 
in six months. 

The next voyage hither on the part of the English 



62 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

was in 1605, but as his exploration covered only that 
part of the coast of Maine which included Monhe- 
gan, Pemaquid and the Sagadahoc, it is not neces- 
sary to note in this volume more than the fact that 
Weymouth made a voyage, the details of the same 
coming more peculiarly within the scope of the vol- 
ume to come later in its place in this series. 

The interest of Sir Ferdinando Gorges was aug- 
mented by the report brought home by Weymouth, 
and in the following year, Henry Challoner, who had 
two of the natives along whom Weymouth had 
carried to England, set out for the Maine coast in 
one of Gorges's ships; but Challoner, instead of saiUng 
northward to Cape Breton, shaped his course more 
to the southward, or rather West Indiaward, to 
unfortunately fall into the hands of the Spaniards. 

It is probably true, that of all who came to this 
New England in the English interest, no one individ- 
ual gave greater impetus to the ultimate English 
colonization than did Capt. John Smith. In 1609, 
when Smith sailed up the Thames, he brought the 
enchantments of Virginia in his train. One of the 
most conspicuous of the later western world voy- 
agers, humane, gentle, and of considerate mind, 
bold of spirit, fearless of heart, and bluff of manner, 
traveled and wise in the ways of the civilization of 
the times, withal much of a gentleman. Smith had 
many and strange tales to tell, and an admiring and 
constantly augmenting constituency of listeners. 
Gifted in narrative, keenly observant, assimilative, 
possessing a prominent bump of causaUty, fertile in 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 63 

expedient, and witty, no doubt, he was bound to be a 
boon companion; and as he dropped into one tavern 
or another he was a welcome guest. It is easy to 
beheve that he did not neglect the occasion to drop 
here and there a handful of seed into the waiting 
ground. What exploits of love, war, and travel 
among strange peoples tinged with the glamour of 
his distance from all these former experiences; what 
episodes of danger by land and sea did he not pour 
into ears titillating with mild dehght as he swept his 
entranced listeners along upon the tide of his recol- 
lections, stimulated by a subtle wit and a like lively 
imagination! But it is due to Smith to admit that 
his imagination rarely if ever got the bits in its 
teeth to run away with the fact as he understood it. 
He was the Argonaut of his time, and like the palmer 
home from the old Crusades, he was everywhere 
generously received as the bearer of strange tidings 
of a like strange and far-off country. 

It was two years before this last-mentioned visit 
of Smith to America that Raleigh Gilbert came 
hither, 1607, with George Popham to make an 
abortive attempt of the settlement of Pemaquid, and 
which is mentioned incidentally as following Wey- 
mouth's voyage of 1605 to the same locality. 

It was in 1613 that the notorious Argall was sent 
from the Virginias to destroy the Biard and Masse 
Mission of St. Sauveur, at Mont Desert, which he suc- 
ceeded in doing very effectually, dislodging the French, 
whom he conveyed to the Virginia settlements to 
augment that colony. This could be considered 



64 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



PoinlJ]a.v/i'j 



hardly more than a somewhat drastic service of 
notice upon the French Court that it must not en- 
croach upon this stretch of wilderness to the south- 
ward at least of the St. Croix River; but it smacks of 
something of the rude and somewhat covetous tem- 
per of the times, and stamps Argall as a fitting 
instrument in the hands of a jealous prerogative. 
He fulfilled his instructions to the letter, as it might 
be supposed he would from one's knowledge of his 

character and subse- 
quent career, the 
most notable epi- 
sode in which was 
his kidnapping of 
Pocahontas, whom 
he held for ransom, 
but who was finally 
taken to England, 
where she was bap- 
tized under the name 
of Rebecca, to after- 
ward marry John Rolfe, who figures as the intimate 
friend of Ralph Percy in Miss Johnstone's exceed- 
ingly picturesque romancing of the days at James- 
tovm when it took a hogshead of tobacco to offset 
the value of a likely young English maid, and per- 
haps a modicum of Enghsh pluck and a good sword 
arm to defend her. 

It was a year after this onslaught of Argall upon 
the Mont Desert Mission, or in 1614, that Capt. John 
Smith made his fourth and possibly most important 




[b3o 



/Valoko 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



65 



voyage, observing the coast from the Kenneheke to the 
Piscataqua in an open boat with a portion of his 
crew. This was the voyage which brought him to the 
Isles of Shoals, upon which he landed and of which 
he took possession in the name of Charles I. He 
gave them the name of the Smith Isles. He made 
a rnap of the coast, to which he gave the name of 



EisTGLA 




New England. He made the acquaintance of its 
bays, inlets, and rivers, and was made aware of the 
great quantities of fish that abounded in them. He 
landed here or there, as his inclination led, and made 
the acquaintance of the natives, their habits, garb, 
and manner of hving and getting a Hvehhood ; and 
then he wrote a graphic description, the best of its 



66 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

time, of what he had seen, locating one place after 
another by giving them English names, not forgetting 
his own Shooter's Hill in English Kent some eight 
miles from London, a name he gave to an elevation 
inland a Uttle from his Harrington Bay, which is 
bordered on the west by the spacious Scarborough 
marshes. The country about the Kennebunk River 
he designates as Ipswich. Old Agamenticus he trans- 
lates into Snadoun Hill, and old York he calls Boston. 
His River Forth is evidently the Fore River of Casco 
Bay, perhaps the Presumpscot. From Cape Ehza- 
beth to Cape Ann the contour of the shore Hne is 
surprisingly accurate and intelhgible. He locates 
the Piscataqua, but does not name it; the Isles of 
Shoals are topographically correct in their placing 
on this map. His work was published in 1616, 
London, and it gave a great impetus to the schemes 
for the colonization of these new shores revolving in 
the EngUsh mind at that time. Four years after, the 
foundations of the Plymouth colony were laid on 
Cape Cod, over which settlement Monhegan claims 
some precedence in point of time by reason of a 
portion of Rocroft's crew having wintered there, 
1618-1619, when they were taken off by Dermer, who 
came over in one of Sir Ferdinando Gorges's vessels. 

Smith's object was to engage in mining for gold and 
silver, but he found neither. He did find great 
shoals of fish. This was disappointing to those 
interested in the venture, whereat, he said, in his 
account of the country, "Therefore, honorable and 
worthy countrymen, let not the meanness of the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



67 



word fishe distaste you ; for it will afford as good gold 
as the mines of Guiana or Potassiel, with lesse hazard 
and charge and more certainty and facihty. " Twelve 
years after this was written with certainly prophetic 
vision, one hundred and fifty fishing vessels were sent 
hither in a single year from Devonshire alone. His 
prophecy was abundantly verified. 




CAPE NORTH, CAPE BRETON. SUPPOSED LANDFALL OF CABOT, 1497 

In addition to the project of searching for valuable 
minerals "to make trials of a mine for gold and 
copper," he was "to take whales." If none of these 
were to be had, he was to lay in a cargo of " fish and 
furs." He makes note, "We found this whale 
fishing a costly conclusion. We saw many, and spent 
much time in chasing them, but could not kill many; 



68 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

they being a kind of juhartes, and not the whale that 
yields fins and oil as we expected." As to the mines, 
he opines that the master of the ship used that as a 
pretense to get a charter party. He mentions in his 
boating along the coast that in the length of his 
journey he counted forty habitations along shore, the 
principal of which were at Penobscot. He notes 
Casco Bay after this fashion: "Westward of the 
Kenneheke, is the country of Aucocisco, in the bottom 
of a large, deep bay, full of many great lies, which 
divides it into many great harbours." Hunt, who 
was here with him, made a most scandalous use of 
his opportunity, remaining behind to capture thirty 
of the Abenake, whom he is said to have taken to 
the Malagas, at which place they were sold as slaves. 
Hawkins sailed down the coast in 1615 to take a 
passing glimpse of the wilderness he had come so far 
to explore. He may have landed, but that is to be 
doubted; for he found the natives engaged in inter- 
necine warfare. Nor was Hunt's kidnapping exploit 
so stale that it was likely to commend any of his race 
to the confidence of the aborigine. In later years, as 
the settler along this section of the New England 
coast covering the territory from Casco to York 
discovered, the memory of the Indian was wrought 
into a proverb, "As good as an Indian's memory." 
The savage never forgave an injury or forgot a 
kindly act. These settlers reaped the whirlwind so 
indifferently sown by the crafty and unscrupulous 
trader, few of whom got their deserts so peremptorily 
as did "Great Walt" Bagnall, of Richmond's Island; 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 69 

but the midnight assault was the savage method of 
conducting war, and what is the kilHng of men but 
massacre, and back of it all, what better right had the 
European to these hunting-grounds of the aborigine 
for centuries, than had Argall to expel the French 
Jesuits from Mont Desert, killing all who resisted, 
burning their cabins and carrying away captive the 
living remnants? To use a common phrase, what is 
the odds, except that the retaliation of the Ahenake 
was the vicious protest of a ruined race against the 
English mode of extermination. 

Hawkins sailed farther south to Virginia. His 
voyage hither has little of import and nothing of 
geographic or historic value, except that he might be 
mentioned in chronological order as one of the 
forerunners of the tide that was soon to set so strongly 
to these shores. 

It was, however, in the succeeding year, 1616, that 
Richard Vines sailed to New England under the 
auspices of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, that one begins to 
feel some warmth from the fire kindled by the Cabots 
and replenished from time to time afterward by the 
Cortereals, Verazano, and those who came after. 
The name of Richard Vines smacks of locality, as if 
one were getting within smelling distance of one's 
own chimney smokes, or as if one had caught a glimpse 
of the home gable from some adjacent hill-top after 
a long journey through a seemingly interminable 
wilderness. He passed the winter at the mouth of 
the Saco River, the winter of 1616-17, ^Vllat is now 
Winter Harbor was the scene of his brief pilgrimage, 



70 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

from whence he returned to England in the spring. 
Here, for the first time, he looked out upon the pano- 
rama of a New England autumn, and upon a wilderness 
of woods glorious and irresistibly fascinating in the 
mystery of color that comes with ripening of the 
summer foliage. It must have been a revelation to 
his English vision, this emptying of Nature's dye- 
pots over the wooded wastes, while the days were 
filled with soft and sleep-distilling silences. Never- 
theless, they must have been busy days, engaged as he 
must have been in putting up the rude shelters that 
were to protect him from the inclemency of the 
approaching season, and perhaps what surprised him 
most was the low rumble that filled the woods at broken 
intervals, but he solved the mystery when he saw the 
partridge drumming on his secluded log. What 
a stirring of new life is in him as he treads 

"the unplanted forest floor, whereon 
The all-seeing sun for ages hath not shone ; 
Where feeds the moose, and walks the surly bear, 
And up the tall mast runs the woodpecker, " 

How one would have liked to have kept him 
company as 

"He roamed, content aUke with man and beast! 
Where darkness found him he lay glad at night; 
There the red morning touched him with its light. " 

But one can agree readily with Emerson, 

" Go where he will, the wise man is at home, 
His hearth the earth, — his hall the azure dome. " 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 71 

And so, undoubtedly, Vines made the acquaintance of 
this roadless Utopia. One can see him from day to 
day as he looked out from the hewn lintels of his 
cabin door upon the miracle of Nature, and from 
amid a succession of solitudes, — for was not each day 
a solitude by itself? Whether Vines had any of the 
mystic in his nature, I do not know, as I am uncertain 
whether he wrote of his experiences. I wish he might 
have had something of the later Thoreau, however; 
for it is the mission of the mystic 

"To tell men what they knew before, 
Paint the prospect from their door, " 

and here was, better than all that, a daily unfolding 
of Nature's pungent pages, and one may say hitherto 
unscanned, and as Vines drew in long breaths of their 
odorous elixirs he must have anticipated the poet, 
saying to himself, 

" Who liveth by the ragged pine 
Foundeth a heroic line, " 

especially as the low gray clouds of November began 
to fly in hurtling masses across the sky, and the night 
frosts to nip more sharply. Then, when the clouds 
had blown away and the rough winds from the 
western mountains had found some other vent and 
there dawned 

"one of the charmed days 
When the genius of God doth flow, 
The wind may alter twenty ways, 
A tempest cannot blow; 



72 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

It may blow north, it still is warm; 
Or south, it still is clear; 
Or east, it smells like a clover-farm; 
Or west, no thunder fear." 

Then the Indian summer, with its dulcet suggestion 
of mild October, as if Summer had kept her best and 
fruitiest wine for the close of the gracious feast, had 
come, — the crowning revelation so far. Those were 
the days when he wished for the companionship of his 
intimates across the water, for he knew he could 
never tell them a tithe of the seductive influences that 
hedged those brief days about when the sun dropped 
behind the marge of the Saivquatock woods all too 
quickly. With the next dawn the gray clouds had 
again stretched themselves across the sky and the 
winds seemed, more roughly edged. There was a new 
sound dropping earthward from somewhere overhead, 
but it was only the honk of the southward-flying wild 
goose. Here was opportunity for another voyage of 
discovery, but all he saw was a winged harrow, nor 
that for long; for, 

" Announced by all the trumpets of the sky 
Arrived the snow. " 

The tiny pellicles smote his face to get tangled in his 
beard and there was a new exaltation that possessed 
him as he caught this untranslatable caress of Nature 
on his ruddy cheek. After a look out and across the 
darkening sea toward Old England, and another at his 
ship as he noted her safe mooring, he went into his 
cabin to be beside 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 73 

"the radiant fireplace enclosed 
In the tumultuous privacy of storm, " 

which, after all, was only a prosaic forecastle stove, — 
so much for one's romancing. This phenomena 
must have colored his thought with something of 
futurity, tinged as it was with its suggestion of arctic 
inclemency. 
So it was 

"The free winds told what they knew. 
Discoursed of fortune as they blew; 
Omens and signs that filled the air 
To him authentic witness bear; 
The birds brought auguries on their wings. " 

From what came after it is safe to assume that 
Vines enjoyed this embargo of Nature, and to one 
acquainted with the New England cUmate and the 
locality, it is not a far stretch of the imagination to 
follow him through these winter months, fishing and 
hunting, or whiling away the short days bartering 
with the aborigines for the latter's treasures of choice 
furs, or measuring the evening's span by the waning 
of his firelight. One can see even now of a winter's 
day the picture which grew familiar to the first of his 
kind to make a close acquaintance with these Saco 
shores, with the limitless sea before and the dusky- 
green woods behind, separated only by the audible 
line of the surf that is whiter even than the immacu- 
late snow above it. 

But the days begin to lengthen and he feels uncon- 
sciously for the south winds of the opening spring days 



74 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

when he will ship his anchor that has so long lain idle 
in the ooze of Winter Harbor. He sees already 

"through the wild-piled snowdrifts 
The warm rosebuds glow " 

among the English hedgerows, and when he has done 
bending his sails he will haul them taut, and when 
they have bellyed to their fill with the impatient 
winds, he will off for bonnie England. These were 
doubtless the pleasantest of his stay here, for they 
were roseate with anticipation and laden with fruition. 
He seems to have kept no journal, and it is a pity 
he did not do so. His report to Gorges must have 
been of an encouraging nature, however, as the latter 
despatched Rocroft hither the following year, 1618, 
who signalized his advent on the coast by the capture 
of a French bark. Transferring the French crew to 
his own craft, he sent it straightway to England, keep- 
ing on for the mouth of the Saco in the captured bark. 
His intention was to winter here and fish, as did Vines, 
along the immediate coast; for between Pescadouet 
(Piscataqua) River and Richmond's Island was unsur- 
passed fishing-ground. He had the benefit of Smith's 
acquaintance and undoubtedly had the opportunity 
well recommended to him; but an untoward event 
interfered with his commercial projects. His crew 
mutinied, according to Willis, while anchored at the 
mouth of the Sawquetock (Saco), but he suppressed 
the outbreak promptly, marooning the ringleaders 
on the Saco sands and leaving them to get on as best 
they could, after which he sailed away for Virginia, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 75 

where he was killed in a drunken brawl. These dis- 
contents made their way to Pemaquid, where they 
were found the following year by Dermer, who came 
over in one of Gorges's vessels, — a doubtful tale, as 
Gorges is silent on the matter, as well as Dermer. 

Five years later there were fifty vessels fishing 
along this coast, and which at that time from a shore 
point of view must have presented a lively aspect. 

But to go back to the forerunners of these pros- 
perous times, Jean Alphonse, Roberval's pilot, was 
the romancer of his day, and in comparison with 
Thevet, who says he was here in 1556, seems to be 
the greater Munchausen. De Rut is almost as 
barren of veracity. He claims to have been the first 
to sail across the waters of Massachusetts Bay, but 
the best authorities are silent as to his alleged voyage, 
and perhaps the only excuse the author has for 
referring to Alphonse at all, is for this, that others 
have been inclined to quote his somewhat obscure 
descriptions, as if there may have been some founda- 
tion for them, which is evidently not the fact. Some 
of these tales of early discovery are as unreal as any 
of those of the "Arabian Nights Entertainments," 
when rocs, magic carpets, and enchanted horses were 
the flying-machines that traversed hmitless seas and 
deserts as they carried travelers from Persia to the 
. Indies, or elsewhere, with a swiftness that would make 
Morse's dots and dashes seem slow indeed. It may 
have been thus with Andre Thevet, who, in his 
monkhood, had perhaps mastered the secrets of 
" blackletter " as he moped about the cloistered 



76 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



library of his monastery, which, in his time, was a 
repository of learning and literature, when alchemy 
and occult investigations were component parts of 
the fog of superstition that impelled Jacomo di 
Gastaldi in his map of New France, made about the 
year 1550, to surround his^Isola de Demoni" (Demon 
Island) which appears just north of the now New- 
foundland with flying devils. This island is known 




illuh auv ©iti 




^'C-lc'^o/i 






litb 



as Sable Island and as well for its ragged reefs and 
dangerous tides. 

Thevet, like Amerigo Vespucius, may have wormed 
himself into the secret experiences of others, and so 
have woven the sleazy fabric which is everywhere 
overshot with incongruity and unreality. One has 
only to recall Rosier, the annalist, and Champlain 
of the Weymouth expedition, and Hosier's suppres- 
sion of the parallel of Pemaquid, to realize how careful 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 77 

many of these explorers were to keep the exact 
location of their landfalls a mystery. But for 
Strachey, Rosier's story would be as unintelligible 
as it always was, but the discovery of the former's 
very ancient and entertaining account of Weymouth's 
visit to Pemaquid makes Rosier's account clear. 

Kohl says " the English merchant, Robert Thorne, 
in his well-known letter to De Ley, ambassador of 
Henry VIII to the Emperor Charles, says that 'in 
Spain none make Gardes (maps) but certain appointed 
and allowed masters, as for that peradventure it 
woulde not sounde well to them, that a stranger 
shoulde knowe or discover their secretes.'" This 
seems to have been the policy of such governments 
as sent out explorers, and supports the argument that 
before 1492 discoveries may have been made, the 
reports of which may be moldering in the archives 
of Portugal, or elsewhere, and of which many have 
come to hand in these later years and which have 
enabled the historiographer to form opinion upon a 
more secure foundation. 

Verrazano gave the name "Prima Vista" to the 
country of his discovery ; Ortelius, " Nova Francia " ; 
and generally, the older map makers have given the 
name "Norumbegua" to the New England section 
of it. The Blauws called it ''Nova Belgica" and 
"Nova Angelica." Richard Hakluyt," in his "Dis- 
course on Westerne Planting," speaks of these 
sections as Canada and Hochelaga, the latter in 
connection with Cartier, also of Norumbegua in 
connection with "Stephen Gomes." Hakluyt has 



78 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

been accused of being " tedious" by here and there a 
writer whose taste in things literary may not be 
equal to detecting the fine flavor that lurks in Ms 
prose, but he is as gi'eat a romancer in liis way as 
was Sir Walter Scott; nor is he to be credited alto- 
gether with this very interesting work, for, accord- 
ing to Dr. Leonard "Woods, Sir Walter Raleigh 
directed it largely, for which very reason of its dis- 
tinguished collaboration, and being a faithful mir- 
ror of the impulses that led up to the settlements on 
the coasts of Vu-ginia, Massachusetts, and Maine, the 
work is far from being hable to so gi-ievous a charge. 
Here are a few lines from the "Epistle Dedicatorie" 
to his "Divers Voyages." 157S. "I marvaile not a 
little, that since the first discourie of America, which 
is now full fom'score and tenne years, after so great 
conquests and plantings of the Spaniards and Portin- 
gales there, that wee of England could neur haue the 
grace to set fast footing in such fertill and temperate 
places as are left as yet Mipossessed of them." 

There is a quaintness. a gi-ace, and a smacking of 
good reasoning in this brief quotation that is delicious 
and whets the appetite for more. Hakluyt was a 
comparatively young man, and liis work is yet warm 
with the hot blood of his enthusiasm. He was a 
genuine furnace for argmnent with which to stir the 
temporizing Elizabeth and her favorite, Leicester, 
into colonial competition \\"ith the arrogant Spaniard. 
These tales of Spanish discovery, conquest, and 
aggi'andizement. New World marvels, the exploits of 
Cortes and Pizarro in the land of the Aztecs, were the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 79 

romances of the times, the Arabian Nights tales to 
set on fire the adventurous spirits of London some- 
time home from Holland wars and the Huguenot 
struggles in France, and to "set on foot the gold- 
hunting expeditions of Frobisher," the efforts of 
Raleigh in the Virginias, and the voyages of the 
Gilberts. 

Hakluyt's acquaintance was wide and his glean- 
ings here and there indefatigable. He was con- 
tinually anxious, "if by our slackness we suffer not 
the French or others to prevente us" from reaping 
in this new field. Ribault and Verrazano are given 
great weight and as well the Zeni. Hakluyt has the 
prophetic eye and he writes as if impelled by some 
great inward inspiration. He takes the best at hand 
and gives it to us, nor is he in the least degree respon- 
sible for the extravagances poured into his ears by 
these marvel-making navigators, nor had he any 
means of verifying their stories. 

Dr. Wood says, "In causing this Discourse to be 
written and laid before the Queen, Raleigh had hopes 
to lead her to assume the position and duties of the 
chief of the Princes of the Reformed Rehgion, to 
influence her imagination, con\ince her judgment, 
and overcome her nigardliness." Hakluyt was his 
interpreter, and he begins his "Discourse" "^dth 
these words, — 

"SeiWQC that the people of that parte of America 
from 30. degrees in Florida northeward unto 63. 
degrees (which ys yet in no Christian princes actuall 
possession) are idolaters; and that those which 



80 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



Stephen Gomes broughte from the coaste of Norum- 
BEGA in the yere 1524. worshipped the sonne, the 
moone, and the starres, and used other idolatrie, as 
it is recorded in the historie of Gonsaluo de Ouiedo, 
in Italian, fol. 52. of the third volume of Ramusius; 
and that those of Canada and Hochelaga in 48. and 
50. degrees worshippe a spirite which they call 



y^n 




K cle M a' 



A [- 1- e .- 

^ JohnWii.i;- 






Cudruaigny, as we read in the tenthe chapiter of the 
second relation of Jaques Cartier, whoe saieth: This 
people peleve not at all in God, but in one whom they 
call Cudruaigny ; they say that often he speaketh with 
them, and telleth them what weather shall followe 
whether goode or badd, &q., and yet notwithstand- 
inge they are very easie to be perswaded, and doe all 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 81 

that they sawe the Christians doe in their devine 
service, with Hke imitation and devotion, and were 
very desirous to become Christians, and woulde faine 
have been baptized, as Verarsanus (Verrazano) 
witnesseth in the laste wordes of his relation, and 
Jaques Cartier in the tenthe chapiter before recited — 
it remayneth to be thoroughly weyed and considered 
by what meanes and by whome this moste godly and 
Christian work may be perfourmed of inlarginge the 
glorious gospell of Christe, and reduginge of infinite 
multitudes of these simple people that are in errour 
into the righte and perfecte way of their saluation." 

Twenty-one brief chapters make up the Hakluyt 
MSS. In the third chapter he quotes Jean Ribault, a 
navigator of Dieppe who established a colony of 
French Protestants in the neighborhood of Port Royal 
on the CaroHna coast, 1562, and where he built a 
fort to which he gave the name of Charles. Ribault 
wrote an account of this voyage fortunately, for in 
1565 he was despatched with reenforcements to Rene 
de Laudonniere's colony, founded the year before 
at Fort Carolina on the St. John's River in Florida, 
but Ribault was shipwrecked on his return voyage 
and finally killed by the Spaniards, This quotation 
is ahiiost as tropically luxuriant in its description as 
the marvels of vegetation it enumerates; and it was 
just such alluring tales as kindled the fire of this 
dehghtful " Discourse." 

In the succeeding parts of the work he quotes from 
Gomes, Cartier, Verrazano, and Stephen BelHnger, of 
Rouen, who " f ounde a towne conteyninge fourscore 



82 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

houses, and returned home, with a diligent descrip- 
tion of the coaste, in the space of foure monethes, 
with many commodities of the countrie, which he 
shewed me." This was in the Normiibegua coun- 
try, "... For this coaste is never subjecte to the 
ise, which is never Hghtly seene to the southe of 
Cape Razo in Newfounde lande." 

Had he wintered with Vines at the mouth of the 
Saco, his opinion on the matter of ice would have 
been subject to a sharp re\dsion; but it is just these 
vagaries, then stated as facts, that make the Hakluyt 
narrations so entertaining as giving " color to the cup " 
of this delectable romancer. This allusion to Hak- 
luyt, somewhat expanded in \dew of the province of 
this chapter, has been made, as having been the not- 
able English writer of the time on the explorations of 
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. His work 
exerted an acknowledged influence, and to his feed- 
ing of the English propensity, then in the chrysaUs 
stage, of territorial acquisition, is due the subsequent 
activities of the EngUsh along the coast of Maine and 
the Canadas. 

This story of the old navigators would be incom- 
plete without a glance at some of their charts, for in 
this connection they are luminous with suggestion, 
as they became, one after another, the vanes that 
pointed the way hither ; and then, one finds delight in 
poring over these in some degree ancient vagaries 
of the cosmographers who drew their coast lines 
while one after another of these sea captains held the 
candle, by the flickering light of which they wrought 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 83 

their marvels and christened here and there a head- 
land, bay, or river. 

With one of these old charts outspread before one 
while the contributions of the woodlands of this 
selfsame Norumbegua glow athwart one's hbrary 
hearth in these later days of American civilization, 
one goes a-voyaging on one's own account, and one 
gets on the Mormon's goggles, and with a courageous 
hand on the tiller sails out into the buffeting seas, and 
with his face wet with salty spray listens for the cry 
from the mast-head, "Land!" The winds howl 
through the network of stays overhead and the 
sails flap in the veering gusts, but the " Isola Demoni " 
is safely passed, and skirting the coast of Ramusio's 
Norumbegua with Champlain and Du Monts after 
our wintering at St. Croix, we look in upon the beauti- 
ful bay of the Penobscot, to later explore the wind- 
ings of the Sasanoa, and then keep on down the coast, 
oblivious to the beauties of Casco Bay and as well 
ignorant of them because at our distance from them 
the coast line seemed a continuous one, "we entered 
a little river (the Saco) which we could not do sooner 
on account of a bar, on which at low tide there 
is but one half a fathom of water, but at the flood, a 
fathom and one half, and at the spring tide two 
fathoms, within are three, four, five, and six." Here 
we were in the Chouacoet country, where we found 
they " plant in gardens, sowing three or four grains in 
one spot, and then with the shell of the ' signoc ' 
they gather a httle earth around it: three feet from 
that they sow again, and so on." And what beautiful 



84 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



fields of maize, this "wheat of India," the stalwart 
Indian corn that yellows through the autumn days 
along the painted New England hillsides. And this 
is the romance of a single map, and more, for while I 
gaze absently at the glowing embers on my hearth, 
recalling Hakluyt, out of their heats wends the 
procession of these old navigators, as the train of 
ghosts with Prince Edward at their head trailed across 
the vision of Richard as he slept on Bosworth Field, 
except that the errands of these crowding apparitions 
are of the most peaceful and entertaining character 
to lead one over old ways into new and pleasing 
speculation. 
One of the earliest charts of a date about 1400 upon 

which Greenland is 
shown with much 
accuracy was made 
by the Zeni brothers, 
and according t o 
Kohl, was pubhshed 
around 1558. Fro- 
bisher used this 
chart, upon which 
northern Scotland, 
Jutland, and Norway 
are delineated; also 
the Faroe Group. 
Iceland appears in 
its proper position and Newfoundland is outhned. 
Andrew Zeno says he came to this country (Drogeo), 
with Zichmni, who is identified with Mr. Henry 










THE SOKOKI TRAIL 85 

Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, by John Reinhold Forster, 
and later by Richard Henry Major. Drogeo, Kohl 
thinks, corresponds to present New England. Zeno 
tells a strange story of his visit hither for which I 
am indebted to the research of Kohl, who gets his 
relation from Lelwel. The Zeni went to Finland, 
and where among other things they caught this tale 
of a Frieslander along with the fish they had gone 
after in their setting out from the Faroes. The 
Frieslander, years before, w^ent on a fishing trip 
with some companions to the westward. A great 
storm came up which drove them off their course, 
and far to the west even to Estotilland, a coun- 
try where the people carried on a commerce that 
extended as far north as Greenland. The country 
was one of exceeding fertility. High mountains 
broke its middle distances, and it was toward them 
they were taken to the ruler of the country, who in 
some way had come into possession of a few books 
written in Latin, which were in reality a dead lan- 
guage, as he did not understand them. The language 
of these people had no relation to that of the Norse, 
and they were up to that time an unknown race. 
The king observing that his visitors made use of an 
instrument in sailing by which he was assured long 
voyages could be made with safety, induced them to 
make an excursion to a neighboring country con- 
siderably to the southward. This they called 
"Drogeo." Here they met with a ferocious people 
who at once attacked them. In this unexpected 
onslaught all were killed except one, who was captured 



86 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

and used as a slave. After many weary days and 
almost as many adventures, this one escaped to make 
his way through the wilderness that intervened to 
Greenland, from whence he succeeded in reaching the 
Faroes. He said this Drogeo country extended far to 
the south and had all the appearance of being "an- 
other world," that it was peopled by many savage 
tribes who wore skins and lived a wandering life 
hunting and fishing, with no other occupation. 
Their weapons were the primitive bow and arrow 
with which they engaged in war or killed their game ; 
and they were always at war, so they were expert in 
the use of these weapons. Still farther to the 
south lived a race who dwelt in houses, and had 
cities and great churches, and who understood the 
arts, and who possessed precious metals and knew 
their uses. The most significant part of this strange 
tale is, that they had gods to whom they sacrificed 
such captives as they secured in their many wars. 
All this is strongly suggestive of the Abenake at the 
one extreme, while at the other is balanced the 
Aztec. 

What a romance to glean from a Scandinavian 
fisherman, voyager, and escaped slave, and which 
smacks somewhat of the long time later adventures 
of Captain John Smith! It is a pretty tale and a 
tragic one, but how much of fable may be woven into 
its rather slack fiber is for the close student of the 
very earliest suggestions of discovery hitherward, 
but whose determinations, however, must be ever 
subject to revision. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 87 

One is reminded in these historical discussions of 
the colloquy between Hamlet and Polonius, — 

Ham. " Do you see yonder cloud, that's almost in 
shape of a camel?" 

Pol. " By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed." 

Ham. " Methinks it is like a weasel." 

Pol. " It is backed like a weasel." 

Ham. " Or like a whale ? " 

Pol. " Very like a whale." 

So they leave the question indefinitely settled, 
after all, whether it is a camel, a weasel, or a whale. 

Puck puts it about as well, — 

"I'll follow you. I'll lead you about around, 
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar ; 
Sometimes a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound, 
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire, 
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn^ 
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire at every turn. " 

Lelwel makes a map upon which he locates Drogeo 
in the latitude of Maine. As for the Zeni chart, 
Kohl says that "it is the first and oldest ma-p known 
to us, on which some sections of the continent of America 
nave been laid down." As I have before observed, it 
is a very interesting and suggestive bit of cosmography 
and its ancientness is not disputed. 

A map by Juan de la Cosa, 1500, is among the 
earliest. It is thought to have been compiled from 
Cabot's chart made on his first voyage. According 
to de Ayala, such a chart existed, as he said he saw it. 
Cape Race is shown on this map as Cava de Ynglaterra, 
but Humboldt is inclined to locate this headland 



88 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

as nearer the St, Lawrence, Kohl favors the first 
proposition. On this map occurs the inscription, 
"Mar descubieto por Yngleses," west of which is an 
expansive bay which Kohl takes for the Gulf of 
Maine, He notes a promontory which hooks sharply 
outward into the sea, which he thinks is intended for 
Cape Cod. As this German historian says, "Cape 
Cod is the most prominent and characteristic point on 
the entire coast from Nova Scotia to Florida," It 








\foo 



La LSbunoU 



has a hornlike shape, and makes the figure of a ship's 
nose, and in that way got its name from the North- 
men, "Kialarnes" (Cape Shipnose), This map, 
Kohl suggests, is the first i4)on which "the Gulf of 
Maine and the Peninsula of New England" was ever 
shown. This old-fashioned projection distorts the 
proportions of the coast Une, the northern part ap- 
pearing longer than that of the lower latitudes, 

Reinel, 1505, was a famous Portuguese pilot. 
Cave Raso appears for the first time on this map 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 89 

(flat cape) out of which the EngHsh evolved Cape 
Race. Sable Island appears as Santa Cruz. There 
is another map of unknown authorship which gives 
North America as consisting of four islands. On 
this appears the Terra Bimini, our Florida, visited 
in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, in 1519 by Alaminos, and 
the following year by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon. 
This word, Bimini, was attached to the land of palms 
by Ponce de Leon, whose voyage was in reality a 
search after that mythical Fountain of Eternal Youth ; 
nor was he the only believer in this Norumbegua-like 
fable, as many a bold, credulous navigator had before 
him sailed to and fro, searching out the mystery of 
its location; but like the Golden City of Ingram, it 
was ever an elusive quest. 

Labrador appears upon this map across which is 
inscribed in Latin the legend, " This country was first 
discovered by Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, and he 
brought from there wild and barbarous men and 
white bears. There are to be found in it plenty of 
birds and fish. In the following year he was ship- 
wrecked and did not return; the same happened to 
his brother Michael in the next year." On this map, 
a wide waste of water covers the territory now known 
as New England. 

The map of Johann Ruysch of a date eight years 
later shows great art in its construction, and it is 
engraved. Near Greenland on the original is a 
scientific note: "Here, the compass of the ship 
does not hold, and the ships which contain iron cannot 
return." Humboldt accepts this as a proof that 



90 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



Cabot and Cortereal had made note of this variation 
of the needle as their ships neared the true pole, 
which it was hoped Peary might have discovered 
in his voyage begun in 1905. "Island" (Iceland) 
and Newfoundland are easily located on this map. 
Honfleur is credited with ha^•ing made a map of this 



;'^> 




^Anlilo- 



'PJ\;^^^ 









W1.0 



Cttk cU. 



LQi*._a.i-£v^ — I- r* V "" ' 



part of the Terra Xova, in 1506, which Kohl thinks 
"may have been used" by Ruysch. Here is Bacca- 
laos as an island, and Cape Race becomes Cape de 
Portagesi. The St. LawTence Guh and its headlands 
are indicated. 

Schoner's map is dated 1520. This map maker's 
idea of the Western world was that it was composed 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 91 

mostly of islands. It is of interest from this fact as 
showing the trend of the cosmographic mind of the 
Nuremberg school. On this map South America is 
most prominent and is drawn as an island of continen- 
tal proportions. Cuba appears on this map for the 
first time, \\dth Newfoundland and Labrador. New 
England is shown as Terra Corterealis. But little 
attention is paid to Cabot, As a piece of cosmo- 
graphy it compares with the story of Jean Alphonse 
of his course across Massachusetts Bay. 

The map of Nicholas Vallard, 1543, or soon after, 
is from an art point of view a beautiful production. 
It is crowded with figures in Portuguese garb and 
the natives in the skins of the animals common to the 
region. It is elaborately suggestive of the locality 
which is evidently based upon Roberval and Cartier, 
It is a w^ork of Portuguese origin, and the figures are 
drawn from the life by, it is said, a French painter. 
There is an interesting story of its abstraction by 
copy from the secret archives of Portugal which were 
guarded with great secrecy. Further than its 
attractions as a production of fine art it is of Uttle 
interest to the New Englander, although Casco Bay 
is identified by its many islands. There is a fort 
depicted; the wild animals common to the country 
are drawn in with lifehke simphcity and truthfulness. 
It reminds one of the famous French miniature 
paintings. 

Kohl makes a drawing of a map from Ramusio, and 
originally drawn by Gastaldi of the date of 1550, 
which is a picturesque production, and embellished 



92 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

by figures of the aborigines, their weapons, their 
rude huts. Hills and mountains and trees appear in 
corrrect perspective, and the fisheries are delineated, 
all with artistic accuracy and feeling. It is a map 
of La Nova Francia, giving a small corner of Maine. 
It is the work of an artist, and is strongly suggestive 
of the voyage of Denys, Aubert, and Verrazano. 
Cartier, 1534-1535, does not seem to find a place 
here, which suggests that it may have been of earlier 
origin, else Cartier's occupancy of the St. Lawrence 
would have been noted ; for it was a voyage greater in 
results than any of his French predecessors. This 
map is really the production of the celebrated Fra- 
castro, of Verona. It is supposed that Gastaldi's 
connection with it is wholly of a clerical character. 
There is an island set down upon it, doubtless Sable 
Island, as the "island of demons," and there, are 
numerous little winged devils depicted as hovering 
about its shores, which certainly is a unique feature, 
and suggestive of the danger of sailing too near its 
coast. It is placed near the mouth of Davis's Strait. 

On this map the coast of Maine is apparent by the 
chain of islands that extend from the St. Croix south- 
ward. Maine is designated as "Angeulesme," over 
which are woods, indicating the "Mark-land" of 
the Scandinavians (land of the woods), suggestive 
of their voyages hither. Here are the Ahenake with 
all the indices of a pastoral, peaceful existence, the 
prose relation of some keenly observant navigator, 
translated into a picture story, to remind one of the 
Ahenake messages similar to that made by one of 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 93 

Rale's converts who had supposed from the Jesuit's 
absence, somewhat extended beyond the usual time, 
that he was dead and so had posted along the river 
bank, to tell the story to other of his Abenake brothers, 
a bit of picture-illuminated birch bark. These 
picture messages were common after the English 
began their inroads upon the Indian villages. It 
reminds one of Dighton Rock as well. This map is a 
picture in itself, and, moreover, a diminutive picture 
gallery. Here are the lissome deer; the rabbit with 
ears laid well back and running, rabbit-fashion; the 
bear makes up a part of the local animal exhibit ; a 
wee bit Indian is trying his skill with bow and arrow 
upon a brace of very patient birds under the tutelage 
of an elder. It seems to be something of a holiday 
with the dwellers of the country, a sort of Dutch fair. 
Some are taking an afternoon nap; others are 
seemingly discoursing with graceful gesticulations; 
others are indulging in a "Merry-go-round," a 
sort of Maypole dance, or perhaps singing some 
aboriginal "London Bridge is falling down." It 
does not matter, as they seem to be greatly enjoy- 
ing themselves. Others are posed upon the shore, 
anticipating Boughton's " Pilgrims' Farewell," eyeing 
the ships that are dipping over the horizon, while 
others seem actually to be making love openly,. 
Dutch fashion, indulging in embraces "right out in 
meeting," a most unblushing display of the aboriginal 
affections. Haunches of venison are drying on poles 
stretched between the trees, altogether a literal 
translation of Utopia, to make Parmentier exclaim, 



94 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



"Gil habitori di gusta terra sous gente trattabili, 
amichevoli e piacevoli." 

That the cod fishery trade was well established at 
that time is proven by the parallel lines drawn on this 
map indicating the Grand Banks which set in about 
the St. Croix and extend eastward to double Cape 
Race and running to the northward to terminate at 
the Isle of Demons. 

Ruscelh made a map, 1561, on which Larcadie 



j7t'rfJL']%cafo) 



Im Je) Um^o 










appears for the first time. Michael Lok's map 
follows, on which the Maine coast is located at a 
glance. This map of Lok's is supposed to have been 
drawn from "an olde and excellent mappe" given by 
Verrazano to Henry VIII, which is doubtless the one 
referred to by Hakluyt in his " Westerne Planting, " 
where he says, " There is a mightie large olde mappe in 
parchmente as yt shoulde seme, by Verasanus, traced 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 95 

all alonge the coaste from Florida to Cape Briton with 
many Italian names, which laieth oute the sea, 
makinge a little necke of lande in 40 degrees of lati- 
tude, much like the streyte necke or istmus of Dari- 
ena. This mappe is nowe in the custodie of Mr. 
Michael Lok." Here is the mythic isle of the Seven 
Cities some considerable distance to the eastward of 
Norumbegua. 

According to Ortelius, two hundred maps were 
made in the sixteenth century. 

Among the curiosities in the ancient literature of 
maps is a production by Agnese, 1530, which makes 
the continent of South America to look like a huge 
sunfish, while that of North America resembles 
nothing so much as one of those huge birds of the 
cretaceous period, the ichthyornis, for instance. 
The head forms the northeastern part, the shores 
most familiar to the French and Portuguese ; the neck 
is the contour of the New England coast, while the 
body and the attenuated legs stretch southward to 
the Mexican Gulf. Agnese seems to have expressed 
in his map an opinion common to the time, for 
Hakluyt says, "There is an olde excellent globe in 
the Queenes privie gallory at Westminster, which also 
semeth to be of Varsanus makinge, havinge the coast 
described in Italian, which laieth oute the very self 
same streit necke of lande in the latitude of 40. 
degrees, with the sea joynninge on bo the sides, as 
it dothe on Panama and Nombre de Dios ; which were 
a matter of singuler importunce, yf it shoulde be true, 
as is not unhkely," 



96 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Hakluyt quotes David Ingram, the romancer of 
Norumbegua, with whom he seems to have struck an 
intimate acquaintance, which must have been of a 
most pleasing character, having in mind what a 
superb post-graduate liar, manipulator of a rainbow 
chaser's imaginations, tempered by the heats of 
Bimini and the frigidities of Newfoundland alike, he 
was ! Hakluyt goes on to say with childlike credulity : 
" Moreover, the relation of David Ingram confirmeth 
the same ; for, as he avowcheth and hath put it down 
in writinge he traveled twoo dales in the sighte of the 
North Sea." 

I apprehend all the navigators of that century were 
not much unlike in dealing out their wares of mar- 
vellous sights and experiences. They were all ro- 
mancers, else the first voyage hither, perhaps, would 
have yet to be made. The romancer goes in the 
van of events and ahead of the prosaic plodder who 
keeps to the "main chance" coining the brains of 
unstable genius into comfortable bank accounts, 
houses, and profitable investments. If one desires 
to accumulate, it does not pay to get too far ahead of 
his time. 

According to Hakluyt, once more, the Mercators, 
father and son, held to the Agnese idea that North 
America was a "streit necke" of land. This Agnese 
map was the first to show the ocean routes from the 
old world to the new, and is a prototype of the 
modern atlas, in its way. It seems to be based on 
the discoveries of Magellan, and is ambitious as 
attempting to show the Western Hemisphere. A 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 97 

passage is drawn across the isthmus of Panama, and, 
as before remarked, New England shows a like 
attenuation. It attracts one's attention, as that 
section of the coast is the limit of the writer's en- 
deavor. 

Ribero, 1529, is especially attractive for its his- 
toric interest, and from the fact that the Ribero 
chart was the result of a royal commission appointed 
by Charles V, which was presided over by Don 
Hernando Colon, a son of the famous Christofer 
Columbo. Ribero, Spanish-born, was a member of 
that commission, being recognized as an expert 
maker of maps. He was not a navigator, but a 
scholar, and his "compilations" were doubtless 
from the best authorities. To quote a note of Kohl : 
"In the year 1529 he composed a similar map of the 
world, which in exactness and beauty surpassed that 
of 1527." It was a work of "great accuracy," and 
as it was " composed at the command of the Emperor 
Charles V," it has been ever since given precedence 
over many other maps by accepted authorities, and 
has been copied by the best geographers. The head- 
land of Cape Elizabeth is drawn and the White 
Mountains are located by Ribero. 

There is an alleged map by Sebastian Cabot, but 
that he was an adept in cosmographic art has never 
been credited to his skill as a navigator. Doubtless 
he drew, as did most of the navigators, as a bit of 
personal memoranda, a rude outline of the coast so 
indifferently observed at so many knots an hour. On 
this map is the " Baya de S. Maria," which is doubt- 



98 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

less the mouth of the Saco ; for, just to the eastward, 
the "Cabo de muchas islas" appears, and is easily 
set down as the low promontory of Cape Elizabeth. 
Farther yet, to the eastward, is the "Baya Fernosa" 
(Penobscot). These locations are definite and are 
easily and legitimately appropriated. The authen- 
ticity of this map, however, is doubted. 

With Champlain and Captain John Smith, 1604- 
1605 to 1614, the making of maps of the exploring and 
colonization period, so far as applicable to the im- 
mediate coast of Maine, was done. Following Slater, 
w^hose allusion to Champlain's work cannot be im- 
proved upon, one makes a fit close to this brief notice 
of the cosmography based on the earliest voyages. 
He says: 

"As a geographer of the King, Champlain had 
been engaged in his specific duties three years and 
nearly four months. His was altogether pioneer 
work. At this time there was not a European settle- 
ment of any kind on the eastern borders of North 
America, from Newfoundland on the north to Mexico 
on the south. No exploration of any significance of 
the vast region traversed by him had been made. 
Gosnold and Pring had touched the coast; but their 
brief stay and imperfect and shadowy notes are to 
the historian tantalizing and only faintly instructive. 
Other navigators had indeed passed along the shore, 
sighting the headlands of Cape Anne and Cape Cod, 
and had observed some of the wide-stretching bays 
and the outflow of the larger rivers; but none of them 
had attempted even a hasty exploration. Cham- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 99 

plain's surveys, stretching over more than a thousand 
miles of sea-coast, are ample and approximately 
accurate. It would seem that his local as well as his 
general maps depended simply on the observations 
of a careful eye; of a necessity they lacked the 
measurements of an elaborate survey. 

"Of their kind they are creditable examples, and 
evince a certain ready skill. The nature and prod- 
ucts of the soil, the wild teeming hfe of forest and 
field, are pictured in his text with minuteness and 
conscientious care. His descriptions of the natives, 
their mode of life, their dress, their occupations, their 
homes, their intercourse with each other, their 
domestic and civil institutions as far as they had any, 
are clear and well defined, and as the earliest on 
record, having been made before Indian life became 
modified by intercourse with the Europeans, will 
always be regarded by the historian as of the highest 
importance." 

Smith's map seems like an old acquaintance, and 
with that, it being the last, and perhaps the best for 
us, one can dispense with all the other lucubrations 
except from the curio collector's point of view, for 
the day of their msdom has long since passed. They 
are notable, barring the ambitions they stunulated, 
for their mingling of credulity, erudition, and fable, 
the strange productions, many of them, of mere con- 
jecture put out at a time, when to make a map was 
to earn a brief notoriety or a lasting reputation. 
Like a few works of the Latin and Greek writers, 
some of these cosmographies have become classics. 

LQFC. 



100 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Fortunate was that one who was able to sift the 
probable from the marvellous, and to close his ears to 
the siren notes that floated over seas from St. Bran- 
dan's and the island of the Seven Cities. 

The sailings to and fro of these ancient navigators, 
however, have more than a passing interest, colored 
as they were, with romance of the sea and the strange- 
ness of the shores which they finally reached, fraught 
with unknown and hidden dangers. It was a high 
emprise that led them over the sunlighted waters 
or through alternate glooms with only the far-off 
lamps of the stars to light their way; and one can 
imagine the subtle thrill of exultation that vibrated 
from peak to keelson, as the lookout, after long days 
of peering through the sea mis^s, shouted from the 
mast-head, "Land!" 

So this story of the maps is the story of the 
explorer. Like a song without words, one reads, 
although nothing is written. Only a corrugated line, 
a wrinkle of commonplace printer's ink, a few names 
in a strange tongue make up the score over which one 
pores in delicious uncertainty, to translate as one 
pleases; weaving romance upon romance, gleaning 
as much from the bias of the annalist, perhaps, as 
from the truth that now and then flashes out, as 
from some Pharos, from its solid headland. But one 
prefers the gritty sands of Winter Harbor to the 
quotation from Champlain. It is like a bit of Nature 
on the studio wall that is born of the romance of the 
brush ; one prefers the landscape itself to the choicest 
description of its charms. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 101 

Looking back over the way one has come, one 
perforce admits that the rude actualities of hfe glow 
with softer color the farther one gets away from them. 
Emerson says, 

"A score of miles will smooth 
Monadnock to a gem. " 

These olden days are the peculiar realm of the 
modern romancer. Out of the idolatrous Incas 
Prescott has wrought a dream of barbaric splendors. 
Irving revamps the pettinesses of Columbus into a 
prose idyl. The savagery of the Ahenake is a bad 
dream to be dispelled by a familiar voice; while the 
credulity of Cotton Mather and the brutality and 
ignorance of Stoughton are ink blots upon an other- 
wise comely page; for the shag of the wilderness is 
broken and shorn. Its rude aborigines carried the 
wildness of the woods with them as they went; yet, 
as one strolls along the yellow sands at the mouth 
of ancient Sawquetock to watch the ghostly sails as 
they cHmb the horizon of the sea, with the thought 
of these old voyagers in mind, visions of their doings 
troop through the brain in an almost endless suc- 
cession. But with the roar of the Saco Falls comes 
the whir of the busy mills, and these once reahties 
that ended hereabout with the last advent of Smith 
and the coming of 

"Factor Vines and stately Champernon, " 

fade away. 

He is indeed lucky who can shut his ears to the 



102 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



vibrant spindle to wander a little into the Land of 
Romance; yet luckier is that one who can saturate 
himself with the atmosphere of fantasies and dreams. 
A dreamer ! All hopeful men are dreamers, and 
happy is he whose dreams 

" fold their tents like the Arabs 
And as silently steal away," 

with the break of every dawn. 




THE WINTER HARBOR SETTLEMENT 




THE WINTER HARBOR SETTLEMENT 

NCE past Crawford Notch, 
winding its way through a 
dusky defile of its birth- 
place among the snows of 
the Waumbek Methna, and 
thence through an appar- 
ently interminable wilder- 
ness, the virgin Saco makes 
its final leap over the rag- 
ged scarp below Indian Island, to tumble, with a 
jubilant roar to merge into the huge bowl of the 
ocean six miles away at Winter Harbor, whose tides 
sweep ceaselessly to and fro across a broad horizon 
to eastward, even to the far shores whence the am- 
bitious and enterprising Vines sailed in the summer 
of 1616, with his handful of Argonauts, to build a 
new Carthage along the forest-clad shores of Winter 
Harbor; for it is safe to assume, in this first ven- 

105 




106 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

ture of Vines, a predetermined purpose possessed him 
to effect hereabout a foothold which would enable 
him at his later convenience to consummate a per- 
manent colonization. 

Much had been objected in opposition to the 
inducements of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, that the cli- 
mate of Smith's New England, so much vaunted by 
Hakluyt in his "Westerne Planting," was cold and 
unpropitious. Vines' s first expedition, somewhat in 
the nature of an experiment, disproved this, the 
results of which were of the most satisfying and 
encouraging character. At the time of his coming 
Nature was dominant along these shadowy shores. 
The dense woods extended inland from the solitary 
sea, unsurveyed and limitless, a terra incognita of 
silences broken only by the beating of the winds 
against these shores of verdure, the more musical 
whispering of the leaves of the dense deciduous 
growths, the drowsy runes of the running waters 
punctuated, as the summer waned, by the faint 
staccato of the acorn quitting its cups with the frost, 
a staff of dainty tonic quality upon which were writ 
as well the varied notes of the feathered tribes, 
now and then accented by the wail of the nomad 
fox and the more ominous complaint of the preda- 
tory wolf. 

It was a veritable wilderness, the antiquity of 
whose antecedents dated back to the Laurentians of 
the Hudson Bay country, the " Height of Land " from 
whence the glaciers ebbed north and south; so 
one may say these shores are as old as the world. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



107 



The centuries overlap them as the leaves of their 
forests their unhumanized floors. Here was the 
exquisite sculpturing of Creation garnished by- 
indulgent Nature. 

Here, upon the marge of the sea where it beats over 
Winter Harbor bar to follow the ever-narrowing 
contour of the land even to the foam streaks that 
spin away from the tumbling waters of Saco Falls, 
as one marks the boundaries of the original Vines 



^^i^L 




WINTER HARBOR — MOUTH OF SACO RIVER 



settlement, one is possessed of a gallery of choice 
landscapes, and all are in the ''original." With the 
ever-widening sea before, and the curving shores 
behind and landward, the stream dwindles into a 
tumultuous ribbon of silver, and one is bewildered 
with his visual riches; so many are the nooks and 
corners and bits of nature that await the brush or 
pencil of an Inness or a Smiley, or even the transitory 
contemplation of the less gifted; but in a way we 
are all children of Dame Nature and enjoy her feasts 
in our way. But here are the happy hunting- 



108 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

grounds for every nature lover where one can dream 
and drowse at one's content if one has the leisure; 
for even now one finds secluded spots that have 
much of the hereditary quality of the untamed and 
untameable solitary beauty of sea and shore that 
greeted Vines, as he for the first time broke these 
placid waters in twain as he pushed his shallop 
shoreward to take possession of the wide lands 
secured to him later by his patent from the Council 
of Plymouth on that eventful first day of February, 
1630, and in which John Oldham was associated with 
him, but who left Vines to his own devices. His 
neglect to occupy any part of these Saco lands 
eUminates him from further consideration, except 
that Oldham settled at Watertown and was killed 
by the Indians in 1634, He was a member of the 
first General Court of Massachusetts. 

Here was to be the nucleus of a prosperous settle- 
ment. 

If one would have a sensing of the loneliness, as 
well as the picturesqueness of a virgin landscape not 
at all unlike that which greeted Vines, a sail along 
the coast of Maine in these modern days will dis- 
cover even yet many a patch of its original shag by 
which is unfolded to the modern vision the same 
rugged wildness that hedged about the vessel of 
Vines as the winter of 1616-1617 came and went. 
But Vines had been here before as early as 1609. 
Hereabouts, nowadays, is the haunt of the summer 
idler, the dilletanti of pleasure, not one of whom, 
I suppose, ever thought of a little fire of driftwood on 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 109 

the sands, out of its pregnant incense haply to coax 
back the romance of the days of Richard Vines, or to 
conjure from the buried years the ghosts of those 
who blazed the first woodland trails, or outUned the 
bridle paths that wound with devious sinuosity 
eastward to Machigonie or westward to Godfrey's 
settlement thirty miles away on York River, and on 
still farther to old Ketterie and the Pascataquay 
River, through the pillared naves of a primeval forest 
peopled with ghostly shadows and pregnant with 
danger. 

One does not need the assistance of Jenner to 
become innoculated with the romance of the sea, 
for its invigorating salty winds will do that along with 
the broken rhythm of its ceaseless surf and the zenith- 
dyed waters that merge imperceptibly into the wide 
arch of the limitless ether, and this locahty has the 
pecuhar legacy that has come to it by direct kinship, 
which is that of being romance saturated. 

Winter Harbor forms the southern shoulder of 
Saco Bay, which is hedged in on the north by famous 
Front's Neck, and on the south by Fletcher's Neck, 
which boldly thrusts its hare's head toward Wood 
Island Light. It is a harbor of few islands, but many 
reefs over which the seas break constantly, to shear, 
as it were, huge fleeces of snowy-white wool from their 
dripping backs until the trough of the sea shoreward 
is piled with iridescent foam. Beach, Whale's Back, 
Washman's, and Dansbury are less than a half mile 
offshore, while the Gooseberries dangle temptingly 
under the nose of the hare. Wood Island is not so 



110 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



far away but these gooseberries of rocks remind one of 
the stepping-stones across Deering's Guzzle over in 
old Ketterie. One would not need seven league 
boots. A pair that would span a half mile would 
get one over to the Light, dry shod. From Hill's 
Beach, Basket, Stage, Tappan and Wood islands 




THE SITE OF THE VINES SETTLEMENT 



are a-row, like so many huge beads strung on a two- 
mile stretch of thread, and with something of method, 
as if Nature had begim a causeway of rock to the land 
of Cabot, but ceased abruptly as the water got above 
her ankles, throwing her burden to one side or the 
other in her alarm, and it lies to-day where she dropped 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 111 

it at Sharpens Rock and Ram Island Ledge, a jagged 
disarray of hungry monsters of the inner bay that ever 
he in wait for tlie heedless mariner, and that make the 
line of sm"f across the mouth of the Saco ahnost con- 
tinuous. At the base of Fletcher's Neck and almost 
entirely closed in by a sohd scarp of earthworks, north 
and south, ahke, is the Pool, a triangiilar sheet of 
water with perhaps a scant three miles of shore line, 
the placid surface of which would offer a most prosaic 
page of nature but for the less than a dozen islands 
that break water here or there and that vary in size 
as the tide is at its ebb or flood. Midway of the 
northern rim of this neck of Fletcher's, and at the 
easterly corner of the Pool, or rather midway the ex- 
treme southerly trend of Winter Harbor, is the gut 
through which the waters rush in or out, as the tide 
serves, and it may have been here in this natural 
basin that Vines moored his craft, possibly to put 
up his \\inter shelter somewhere along its western 
land wall on what is now the site of Biddeford. At 
high tide here was water sufficient to float a fleet, 
and here, according to Levett, was an ideal anchorage 
and an absolutely safe one at all times for " tw^o ships." 
If one could get one of Esther Booker's \\dtch 
bridles about the neck those old times, one could get 
a nearer view of events and so state things with some 
degree of accuracy. The best one can do, however, 
is to emulate the weird arts of 

"Viswamistra, the magician, 
By his spells and incantations," 



112 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

and out of the driftwood along shore, the sea-whitened 
bones of shipwreck pregnant with the mystery of Ufe 
and death, build a slender pyre. Something of its 
own kind that has been dipped in 

" a sulphurous spirit, and will take 
Light at a spark, " 

fused in the bowels of ancient Sicily, will serve as a 
fire stick. A moment later and the sea-green flames 
kindle, and as my fire grows, I see 

"the long line of the vacant shore. 
The seaweed and the shells upon the sand, 
And the brown rocks left bare on every hand, 
As if the ebbing tide would flow no more. " 

I hear 

"The ocean breathe and its great breast expand. 
And hurrying come on the defenseless land 
The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar," 

and then, lacking Gulnare's magic powder of aloes, I 
throw upon my driftwood blaze a handful of sun- 
bleached sand, and the smoke is woven into strange 
shapes that hover a moment like wraiths before they 
fly away on the wind, and tan-colored sails 

" Gleam for a moment only on the blaze," 

and with them 

"Sails of silk and ropes of sandal, 
Such as gleam in ancient lore ; 
And the singing of the sailors. 
And the answer from the shore." 

and that is all. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 113 

There are sails athwart the horizon, but their hulls 
are low and long, and entirely unlike those of French 
Du Monts or English Vines ; but the wind veers, and 
with the veering of the "wind the spell is wrought. 
The wilderness is here, and a ship is luffing over the 
bar and making toward the painted woods that streak 
the interminable shores with the pigments of the 
first October days. 

I am reminded by Willis, as emphazing the isolated 
condition of the country to which Vines came, that 
prior to 1603 there was not one European family on 
the whole coast of America from Florida to Green- 
land. This is true, although before that date three 
efforts had been made to colonize the coast of the 
Virginias which practically included the coastline 
south of the Chesapeake. All these had failed, as did 
Gosnold's abortive effort of 1602 on the Massachusetts 
coast when he built his "barricadoe" on the sands of 
Cape Cod. Such, also, was the experience of Lery 
at Cape Sable. 

Outside of Massachusetts Bay, which was visited 
briefly by Sir William Alexander, the southern boun- 
dary of whose patent was at Pemaquid and up the 
Kennebec, 1622, the first real settlers in this region 
were David Thompson, who has been accredited as 
an agent of Gorges and Mason, and who was ousted 
ultimately by Neale, which raises some question as 
to how far he was authorized by those two English 
colonizers to take up or appropriate lands about the 
mouth of the Piscataqua; for, it was at Odiorne's 
Point that Thompson built his " stone house," which 



114 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

he vacated immediately upon Neale's arrival here, 
and which Neale immediately preempted. Thomp- 
son came undoubtedly from Plymouth Colony, and 
I am of the opinion that he had slender right as 
against the Gorges or Mason interest by reason of his 
precipitate departure upon Neale's coming hither. 
Farther up the Piscataqua, on the Dover side, Edward 
Hilton built his cabin, in 1623. William Hilton 
accompanied his brother Edward. Doubtless these 
men came over here by the encouragement of Gorges, 
neither having any "paper rights." Hilton was 
undisturbed, and the following is found in the " Cata- 
logue of Patents " : " A Pattent granted to Ed. Hilton, 
by liim sould to m°hants of Bristoll they sould 
it to my Lo. Say and Broke s, they to sume of 
Shrusbery : in Pascatowa, many towns now gouerned 
by y*" Mathesusets (1628)." I find the following in 
the same Catalogue: " 1622. 1. A Pattent to David 
Thompson of Plimouth for a p* of Piscatowa River 
in New England." 

Christopher Levett was here, 1623, and he writes 
of his voyage to New England; he had been to the 
Isles of Shoals: "The next place* I came unto was 
Pannaway, where M. Thompson hath made a planta- 
tion, there I stayed about one month, — " What 
seems inexplicable to the author is that Thompson 
with his "Pattent" of 1622 should retire from his 
" stone house" upon the approach of Neale, abandon- 
ing his improvements and betaking himself else- 
where, as he did. This Odiorne's Point is the present 
Rye. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 115 

Referring again to the early settlements, there was 
a fishing station at Monhegan as early as 1621, but 
the settlement of Monhegan may be said to date 
from 1625. 

Levett's account of his experiences about this 
Saco country as he returned from his sojourn at 
Thompson's is so interesting and so saturated with 
incident that I do not hesitate to introduce it as 
making the way for the occupancy of Vines clearer, 
lending to these pages for a moment the vision of the 
voyager who built the first house in Casco Bay. 







MOUTH OF SACO OPPOSITE CAMP ELLIS 

Levett had left "Cape Porpas" behind, with the 
view of dropping anchor in the mouth of the Saco, 
but what befell him is best related by himself. 

" About four leagues further east, there is another 
harbor called Sawco (between this place and Cape 
Porpas I lost one of my men) ; before we could recover 
the harbor a great fog or mist took us that we could 
not see a hundred yards from us. I perceived the 
fog to come upon the sea, called for a compass and 
set the cape land, by which we knew how to steer 
our course, which was no sooner done but we lost 



116 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

sight of land, and my other boat, and the wind blew 
fresh against us, so that we were enforced to strike 
sail, and betake us to our oars, which we used with 
all the wit and strength we had, but by no means 
could we recover the shore that night, being embayed 
and compassed about with breaches, which roared in 
a most fearful manner on every side of us; we took 
counsel in this extremity one of another what to do 
to save our lives; at length we resolved that to put 
to sea again in the night was no fit course, the storm 
being great, and the wind blowing off the shore, and 
to run our boat on the shore among the breaches 
(which roared in a most fearful manner) and cast 
her away and endanger ourselves we were loath to do, 
seeing no land nor knowing where we were. At 
length I caused our killick (which was all the anchor 
we had) to be cast forth, and one continually to hold 
his hand upon the rood or cable, by which we knew 
whether our anchor held or no : which being done we 
commended ourselves to God by prayer, and put on 
resolution to be as comfortable as we could, and so 
fell to our victuals. Thus we spent that night, and 
the next morning; with much ado we got into Sawco, 
where I found my other boat." 

In the original patents of this territory, this river 
is given the name, " Swanckadock." 

Here, Levett "stayed five nights, the wind being 
contrary, and the weather very unseasonable, having 
much rain and snow, and continual fogs. 

" We built us our wigwam, or house, in one hour's 
space. It had no frame, but was without form or 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 117 

fashion, only a few poles set up together, and covered 
with our boat's sails, which kept forth but little 
wind, and less rain and snow. 

"Our greatest comfort we had, next unto that 
which was spiritual, was this : we had fowl enough for 
the killing, wood enough for the felling, and good 
fresh water enough for drinking. 

" But our beds was the wet ground, and our bedding 
our wet clothes. We had plenty of crane, goose, 
ducks, and mallard, with other fowl, both boiled and 
roasted, but our spits and racks were many times 
in danger of burning before the meat was ready 
(being but wooden ones). 

" After I had stayed there three days, and no likeli- 
hood of a good wind to carry us further, I took with 
me six of my men, and our arms, and walked along 
the shore to discover as much by land as I could: 
after I had traveled about two English miles I met 
with a river " (the Saco below Indian Island), "which 
stayed me that I could go no further by land that day, 
but returned to our place of habitation where we 
rested that night (having our lodging amended) ; for 
the day being dry I caused all my company to accom- 
pany me to a marsh ground, where we gathered every 
man his burthen of long dry gi-ass, which being spread 
in our wigwam or house, I praise God I rested as con- 
tentedly as ever I did in all my life. And then came 
into my mind an old merry saying, which I have 
heard of a beggar boy, who said if he ever should 
attain to be a king, he would have a breast of mutton 
with a pudding in it, and lodge every night up to his 



118 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

ears in dry straw; and thus I made myself and my 
company as merry as I could, with this and other 
conceits, making use of all, that it was much better 
than we deserved at God's hands, if He should deal 
with us according to our sins. 

"The next morning I caused four of my men to 
row my lesser boat to this river, who with much ado 
got in, myself and three more going by land ; but by 
reason of the extremity of the weather we were 
enforced to stay there that night, and were con- 
strained to sleep upon the river bank, being the best 
place we could find, the snow being very deep. 

" The next morning we were enforced to rise betime, 
for the tide came up so high that it washed away our 
fire, and would have served us so too if we had not 
kept watch. So we went over the river in our boat, 
where I caused some to stay with her, myself being 
desirous to discover further by the land, I took with 
me four men and walked along the shore about six 
English miles further to the east, where I found 
another river which stayed me." (This stream was 
undoubtedly Goosefare Creek.) "So we returned 
back to the Sawco, where the rest of my company and 
my other boat lay. That night I was exceeding sick, 
by reason of the wet and cold and much toiling of 
my body : but thanks be to God I was indifferent well 
the next morning, and the wind being fair we put to 
sea, and that day came to Quack." (House Island 
in Casco Bay, where Levett afterward built, was a 
part of Quack. His description of Casco Bay, and 
of Fore River which he explored and as well the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 119 

Presumpscot, which he ascended to the Falls, is the 
first ever given.) 

"But before I speak of this place" (Quack) "I 
must say something of Sawco, and the two rivers 
which I discovered in that bay which I think never 
Englishman saw before. 

"Sawco is about one league northeast of a cape 
land. And about one Enghsh mile from the main 
lieth six islands which make an indifferent good 
harbor. And in the main there is a cove or gut, 
which is about a cable's length in breadth, and two 
cables' length long, there two good ships may ride, 
being well moored ahead and stern; and within the 
cove there is a great marsh, where at high water a 
hundred sail of ships may float, and be free from all 
winds, but at low water must lie aground, but being 
soft ooze they can take no hurt. 

Levett's description of the Pool is excellent, but 
there is no doubt but Vines in his voyage of 1616 
made excursions into the surrounding country and 
was even better acquainted with the country than 
Levett, and it is Hkely from the way Levett writes 
that he was unaware of Vines being here seven years 
before. The probable reason why nothing has come 
down from Vines of a descriptive character is because 
of the secretive disposition of the man who preferred 
not to say much of what he had seen until he should 
be able to avail himself of his personally acquired 
information, hoping thereby to secure the location 
for himself as he subsequently did, and thereupon 
founded his settlement. It was simply an indication 



120 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

of Vines's shrewdness, yet had he made a few notes 
of his first sojourning here, they would have been as 
jealously cherished as have those of Captain John 
Smith and of Levett. 

Levett goes on: "In this place "there is a world of 
fowl, much good timber, and a great quantity of clear 
ground and good, if it be not a little too sandy. There 
hath been more fish taken within two leagues of this 
place this year than in any other in the land. 

" The river next to Sawco eastwards, which I dis- 
covered by land and after brought my boat into is 
the strangest river that ever my eyes beheld. It 
flows at least ten foot water upright, and yet the 
ebb runs so strong that the tide doth not stem it. At 
three quarters flood my men were scarce able with 
four oars to row ahead. And more than that, at full 
sea I dipped my hand in the water, quite without the 
mouth of the river, in the very main ocean, and it was 
as fresh as though it had been taken from the head of 
the spring. 

"This river, as I am told by the savages, cometh 
from a great mountain called the Chrystal hill" 
(the White mountains) "being as they say one 
hundred miles in the country, yet it is to be seen at 
the sea side, and there is no ship arrives in New 
England, either to the west so far as Cape Cod, or to 
the east so far as Monhiggen, but they see this moun- 
tain the first land, if the weather be clear." 

Levett never came back to the house he built on 
House Island, for he was later commissioned by 
Charles to make a sea voyage. He died as he was 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 121 

returning to Bristol and was buried at sea. Much 
that is known of Levett after his return to England 
is due to the untiring research of the Hon. James 
Phinney Baxter, and which he personally gleaned 
from the Bristol Records and in London. 

Levett makes note that he found Weymouth here 
on the coast this same year, and writing of the cUmate, 
he says: "Yet let me tell you that it is still almost 
Christmas before there be any winter there, so that 
the cold time doth not continue long. And by all 
reason that country should be hotter than England, 
being many degrees farther from the north pole." 

But there were no weather maps in those days with 
their isothermal lines; for all that, Levett was a 
philosopher. He inquires: "Yet would I ask any 
man what hurt snow doeth? The husbandman will 
say that the corn is the better for it. And I hope 
cattle may be as well fed in the house as in England, 
Scotland, and other countries, and he is but an ill 
husband that cannot find employments for his 
servants within doors for that time. As for wives 
and children if they be wise they will keep themselves 
close by a good fire, and for the men they will have no 
occasion to ride to fairs or markets, sizes or sessions, 
only hawkes and hounds will not then be useful." 

For all our digression from our fire of driftwood it 
is still blazing with much cheerful snapping, and with 
another stick or two added to it, one can ramble for 
a short space over the adjacent sands, and perchance 
discover upon its vmstable page a few, as yet, unob- 
literated footprints of the earlier days. 



122 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

No doubt it was upon the land bordering upon the 
westward edge of the Pool that Vines dug the trenches 
for his house and set his "palisadoes," upright and 
joined together, after the fashion of the dwelling 
places of the earliest comers. He may have put his 
low roof on these supports and shingled it with bark, 
or have brought his sails ashore and used them 
instead. He may have cut his timbers and hewn 
them and tre-nailed them together after a more sub- 
stantial fashion and roofed it in with strips of rifted 
ash, closing the interstices with clay from the adjacent 
swamps, for it is likely there were one or more in the 
near neighborhood. He might have done all this 
and have built him a substantial chimney out of the 
shale that one finds in abundance along the seashore, 
but even that is doubtful if Gorges's relation is true. 
Levett in his nosing around this locality with curious 
eye would have found some remnant of a former 
occupancy, which he did not, as he would have 
mentioned it at length in his story of his sail from the 
Isles of Shoals to Quack. He is silent; nor did he 
discover any trace of European footprint, for he 
thinks himself the first Englishman to set eyes on the 
locahty, ignoring Smith, who was over here in 1614 
and who makes special mention of the Saco. Vines 
had kept his secret so well that Levett passes him 
without even a nod of recognition. 

In Gorges's "Brief Narration" one finds the only 
footprint of Vines. He says, writing after 1630, as 
one would gather from his introductory note, " Find- 
ing I could no longer be seconded by Others, I became 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 123 

an owner of a ship myself, fit for that employment, 
and under color of fishing and trade, I got a master 
and company for her, to which I sent Vines and others 
my own servants with their provision for trade and 
discovery, appointing them to leave the ship and 
ship's company for to follow their business in the 
usual place (for I knew they would not be drawn to 
seek any means). By these and the help of those 
natives formerly sent over, I came to be truly in- 
formed of so much as gave me assurance that in time 
I should want no undertakers, though as yet I was 
forced to hire men to stay there the winter quarter 
at extreme rates, and not without danger, for that the 
w^ar had consumed the Bashaba and most of the 
great sagamores, with such men of action as had 
followed them, and those that remained were sore 
afflicted with the plague, so that the country was in a 
manner left void of inliabitants. Notwithstanding, 
Vines and the rest with him that lay in the cabins 
with those people that died, some more, some less 
mightily (blessed be God for it), not one of them 
ever felt their heads to ache while they stayed 
there." 

It is clear from this that Vines and his crew spent 
the winter on the vessel. But Gorges alludes to 
Vines but briefly, yet later on, and in relation to the 
despatching of Francis Norton to the Piscataqua 
country, he says : " And I was the more hopeful of the 
happy success thereof, for that I had not far from 
that place Richard Vines, a gentleman and servant 
of my own, who was settled there some years before, 



124 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

and had been interested in the discovery and seizure, 
as formerly hath been related." 

Gorges was greatly ambitious and broadly disposed 
in his schemes for the colonization of New England, 
but he failed of the fruition of his ardent desires. 

He had a prophetic eye ; for, a generation later, his 
travail "for above forty years, together with the 
expenses of many thousand pounds" had borne a 
rich fruitage to others. 

It would have the better suited me had I found 
some unevenness in the land hereabout which I 
might have had pointed out to me as one of the 
illegible lines from which I might decipher something 
of the story of Vines 's earliest sojourning here, how- 
ever unauthentic it might have been, for it would 
have dehghted me to have thought of him as watch- 
ing the phenomena of the approaching snow, as 

"The sun that brief December day- 
Rose cheerless over hills of gray, 
And, darkly circled, gave at noon 
A sadder light than waning moon. 
Slow tracing down the thickening sky 
Its mute and ominous prophecy, 
A portent seeming less than threat, 
It sank from sight before it set. " 

And, when 

"Unwarmed by any sunset light 
The gray day darkened into night, 
A night made hoary with the swarm 
And whirl-dance of the blinding storm, 
As zigzag wavering to and fro 
Crossed and recrossed the winged snow, — 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 125 

he piled his leaping fire higher with wood, I would 
have liked to have sat with him a little as he dis- 
cussed his plans about one thing or another, to have 
ruminated over my visit later, when 

" Oft died the words upon our lips, 
As suddenly from out the fire 
Built of the wreck of stranded ships, 

The flames would leap, and then expire. " 

I would have enjoyed swinging an axe with him 
as the pile of firewood grew before his door, after 
the good old New England fashion, with the mercury 
down to zero, the wind blowing a gale and the sharp- 
edged snow hurtling along with even pace, to paint 
one's cheeks the hue of the rose. I am afraid I 
should have felt a woman's delight in the furnishing 
of a new house, had I been able to have assisted 
Vines in getting his rude cabin with its like rude 
furnishings, ready for a housewarming. I would 
have pulled out the ruddy coals on the rough earthen 
hearth and set the flip a-simmering with the same 
sacrificial zest I would feel as I broke a bottle over the 
prow of a ship leaving the ways to take her first dip 
in the sea. We would have had a huge open fire- 
place that would have taken up one end of the cabin, 
and w^e would have kept it aflame had it taken all the 
trees on Fletcher's Neck, and when we could think of 
nothing else, we would have taken up the study of 
astronomy from the vertical telescope of the chimney ; 
for, had it been built after the fashion of the times, it 
would have held in its opening half the constellations, 



126 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

including that of "The Bear," and which, according 
to the traditions of the "Grandfather Days," was 
not an uncommon happening as some hungry Bruin 
made the low cabin-roof a highway of his predatory 
explorations. 

Perhaps it was by reason of the plague of which 
Gorges makes mention that led Vines to keep to his 
ship and which proved such a terrible scourge to the 
Indians; for, the Jesuit Missionary Biard, in 1611, 
estimated the Abenake population of what afterward 
became the province of Maine, to have been of a 
round number above nine thousand, of which the 
Sokoquies made up fully thirty-five hundred. The 
fighting force of this tribe has been estimated by one 
writer as about nine hundred warriors before the 
plague. After that, probably less than a hundred 
warriors comprised their fighting force. In 1726, 
according to Captain Gyles's census of the Indians 
of Maine, the Sokoquies above the age of sixteen, 
numbered twenty-four. 

This plague, while so destructive to the Indian, 
made the way of the settler much easier. It is 
doubtful if the colonies could have made much 
headway at colonization with the original Ahenake 
population extant. The English would have been 
swept away like leaves before the wind with such a 
horde let loose upon them. As it was, they were 
driven in southward as far as the country round about 
the Piscataqua, and even the settlement of Boston felt 
some throes of anxiety. Eastward of^ this river for 
over a half century the savage tide was at its flood. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 327 

to beat against the garrison walls of Scarborough 
with varying fortunes. 

One might regard this visitation of smallpox 
among the aborigines as a special dispensation of 
Providence to make the way easier for the New 
Civilization. That such was the result is certain. 

But our fire of driftwood on the sands is burned 
out, and the phantom ship of Vines, of which we 
have not even the name, has pulled her shadowy 
reflections from their depths in the green waters of the 
Pool, along with her anchor, to dissipate into thin 
air, leaving across the wake of her moorings just a 
bar of summer sunshine, as if those oak-tanned sails 
of Vines had never sniffed the odors of the Saco 
woods. 

With the issuing to Vines of the Patent of the Ply- 
mouth Council began the colonization of the Saco 
country. 

In the year 1630 five grants were made of these and 
adjacent lands, or within the limits of what became 
the Maine province. They were: 

" Jan. 13. To WilHam Bradford and his associates, 
fifteen miles on each side of the Kennebec River, 
extending up to Cobbisecontee ; 

"Feb, 12. To John Oldham and Richard Vines, 
four miles by eight miles on west side of Saco river 
at its mouth ; 

" Feb. 12. To Thomas Lewis and Richard Bonigh- 
ton, four miles by eight, on the east side of Saco river 
at the mouth; 

"March 13. To John Beauchamp and Thomas 



128 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Leverett, ten leagues square on the west side of Pen- 
obscot river, called the Lincoln or Waldo Patent ; 

"To John Dy and others, the province of Ligonia, 
or the Plough Patent, lying between Cape Porpus 
and Cape EHzabeth, and extending forty miles from 
the coast." 

This latter inspires a query, as it covers the Mnes 
Patent. 

Under the Plough patent (so called, e^'idently, from 
the fact that the ship Plough brought over Dy and 
his adventurers) a ship was fitted out by Dy, and 
he and his colony arrived upon the Saco in the 
summer of 1630; but whether before or after Vines 
it is uncertain. These adventm^ers did not concur 
with Vines in his opinion of the place, clearly: for they 
turned their backs upon its goodly forest and its 
excellent harbor, and sailed away to Boston, to be 
dispersed wherever their individual inclinations led. 

Mnes began his work on the Biddeford side of the 
river, engaging his enterprise with all his energy and 
good judgment in his endeavor to comply A\ith the 
conditions of his grant, so that within seven years from 
the date of his patent he should have transported 
fifty persons hither at his own expense, ostensibly 
colonists. This was an easy condition, as with each 
passing year the inducements increased instead of 
lessening, and once the fact established that there 
was profit, and comfort as well in the accumulation 
of it, the tide of emigration from England would set 
westward with ever deepening influence, as it did. 

Vines made a ^^•ise selection of his site, for the build- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



129 



ing up of which all things were propitious. He had a 
waterway at his door which would afford him one of 
the best of common carriers and at the least expense. 
At the foot of his lands was an ample harbor. About 
him, and inland, were the riches of the unscarred 
timber-lands, and about the roots of w^hose mast- 
hke shafts was heaped a fertile soil. There were 
some cleared lands here, possibly by the fires which 
the savages had kindled from time to time to roast 




INNER MOUTH OF THE POOL 



their corn or broil their venison. Here were marshes 
waiting to be cut as he disembarked and which would 
afford not the worst of fodder against the coming 
winter, and as Levett says, there was "fowl for the 
kilhng, wood for the felling," and good water to drink. 
The balance was to be wrought out by Vines, and 
which it will be seen he accomplished with profit to 
himself and a reasonable degree of contentment and 
honor. 



130 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

No account exists to my knowledge whereby one 
may know the number of the people who stood by as 
Richard Vines made his seisin, except that there 
were "nine witnesses and perhaps Mackworth who 
came over with him, was here." He is reputed to 
have made frequent voyages after 1616 to the Saco, 
and it is not at all improbable that there might have 
been some of his representatives of servants here 
upon his arrival to extend their greeting that things 
were about the same as when he sailed away before. 
Of those who were here as colonists, Vines leased to 
each one hundred acres of land. These old leases, 
many of them may be verified by a glance at the 
ancient York records. One lease was made to John 
West some eight years later for a consideration of 
annual rent of two shillings and one capon. Twenty 
years later land was held at a higher premium. This 
effort of Vines was well seconded by the patentees on 
the east side of the river. They were the proper sort 
of men to engage in so strenuous an enterprise, and 
while they wrought as individuals, their interests 
were mutual. These men were Richard Bonighton 
and Thomas Lewis, who held a patent of similar 
proportions to that of Vines and under similar con- 
ditions. The east and west sides of the river were 
occupied about the same time in that summer of 
1630, and for that reason, so far as this relation goes, 
the Saco will not be considered as possessing the 
virtues of a boundary line, but the rather as a Uvely 
suggestion of many things held in common and 
undivided. The original settlers have made this 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 131 

easy, for until 1653 the plantation was known as 
Winter Harbor, and from that down to 1718 it was 
organized as Saco, then to be incorporated as Bidde- 
ford (from by-the-ford on old English Torridge). 
In 1762, the east side became Pepperrellborough, to 
find its old name of Saco again in 1805, and Saco 
it has been for a century. 

Vines and Bonython, became, both of them, at an 
early day, two of the notable men of the section, as 
both were made members of the court of the province, 
with joint jurisdiction over all matters of law, and 
whose jurisdiction, nisi, was limited by damages of 
fifty pounds. It was not until 1639, April 3, that 
Gorges succeeded in getting the royal assent to his 
exercising sovereign powers in his New England 
province or palatinate. That secured, he organized 
his courts, and the civil government was estabhshed 
with something of stability. Captain William Gorges 
was a nephew of Sir Ferdinando, and it was in 1635 
that the mantle of authority fell to his shoulders. 
The following year, having arrived hither, he estab- 
lished the first court, whose members were termed 
commissioners. This court held its first session at 
Saco. If one is curious to see the first minute on 
its docket, here it is: "At a meeting of the Com- 
missioners at the house of Captain Richard Bonighton, 
this 21st day of March, 1636, present Capt. William 
Gorges, Captain Thomas Cammock. Mr. Henry Joce- 
lyn, Gent., Mr. Thomas Purchase, Mr. Edward God- 
frey, Mr. Thomas Lewis, Gent. " 

As a proof that the times were up to the proper 



132 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

pitch, four persons were arraigned for getting drunk, 
who were promptly disposed of at five shilhngs the 
individual, George Cleeve, who had moved to Cascoe 
three years before from the Spurwink lands claimed 
by Winter, talked too much and was mulcted in the 
sum of five shilhngs. Commissioner Bonighton, with 
Spartan firmness, had his son up before the court for 
incontinency with his frail servant, Ann, for which 
the son John got a fine of forty shillings and the 
maintenance of Ann's illegitimate offspring, while 
poor Ann felt the rigors of the law to the extent of 
twenty shilhngs of her wages. It is evident that the 
new community had brought from the mother 
country a sufficient supply of quarrelsomeness and 
litigious disposition, of waywardness and passion, so 
that this court would not be wanting in matters to 
be deliberated in law. 

At this session, an order was entered on the docket : 
"That every planter or inhabitant shall do his best 
endeavor to apprehend or kill any Indian that hath 
been known to murder any Enghsh, kill their cattle or 
in any way spoil their goods, or do them violence, 
and will not make them satisfaction." This might be 
taken to be slightly drastic and one-sided, but running 
down the ancient minutes one finds this court in the 
year following instructed Mr. Arthur Brown and Mr. 
Arthur Mackworth to compel one John Cousins who 
lived on an island near the mouth of Royall's River 
out in North Yarmouth, and who afterward moved 
to York, to make full recompense to an Indian for 
wrongs committed against him. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 133 

This court seems to have accompUshed its labors 
and then to have gone to sleep, for its record after 
1637 seems to have been abruptly terminated. It will 
be noticed that this court was made up of men from 
about the Province. Cammock and Jocelyn were 
from Black Point; Purchase was from New Meadows 
River in Brunswick ; Godfrey w^as from York, as was 
Gorges. These seem, at the time, to have been the 
principal men outside of Kittery, in the jurisdiction. 

Before this court came in, in May of 1636, some hght 
is thrown upon the administration of affairs locally, 
by a record that has come down from the Winter 
Harbor settlement: " Feb. 7, 1636. It is ordered that 
Mr. Thomas Lewis shall appear the next court-day at 
the now dwelling house of Thomas Williams, there 
to answer his contempt and to shew cause why he 
will not deliver up the combination belonging to us, 
and to answer such actions as are commenced against 
him." The machinery of government theretofore 
was by agreement in writing among the settlers as 
to the manner in which they were to hold themselves 
toward one another, and this writing was the " com- 
bination" which Mr. Lewis was charged with with- 
holding from his associates. This mention of Richard 
Bonighton's partner, Lewis, as a member of this 
court, was shortly before his death, which occurred 
within a year or so thereafter, and thus the original 
trio was broken. 

There seems to have been some considerable ad- 
hesion of purpose on the part of Vines, as he seems to 
have departed but once from a strict attention to his 



134 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



interests at Winter Harbor. This was when he 
became interested for a brief interval with Aller- 
ton, in the latter's ventures on the Penobscot. 
The Plymouth Colony had a trading station at Penob- 
scot, and Allerton represented the colony as its factor, 
but his conduct of affairs was somewhat disappoint- 
ing to his principals. He engaged in business outside, 
and mixed the accounts of the colony with his own, 
interfering with their trade on the Kennebec, and as 




AN ANCIENT WHARF, THE POOL 

well endeavoring to divert trade from the Penobscot 
trading-house to his own private emolument. Aller- 
ton finally located at Machias, contrary to the agree- 
ment of Vines with La Tour. Trouble came from this 
eastern venture of Allerton's. Two of his servants 
were shot, and he was driven elsewhere. In 1641, 
Vines, evidently with a view to smoothing the rough 
places somewhat, made a visit to La Tour, who at 
that time was at Pemaquid. He took the inebriate 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 135 

Wanner ton along with him. There they found the 
impetuous and retahatory D'Auhiay,who immediately 
placed both under arrest. Abram Shurt, a man of 
large local influence at Pemaquid, succeeded in 
obtaining their release, and they were allowed to 
depart. This abrupt interruption of Vines's pacific 
and courteous visitation was doubtless due to the 
bitter spirit of quarrel between D'Aulney and La 
Tour, the former resenting the evident feeling of 
amity between his countryman and Vines. Vines 
has always been known by annahsts as "Factor" 
Vines. He no doubt carried on a brisk trade at 
Winter Harbor, and that formed his occupation; but 
he was none the less aware of the importance of 
religious instruction as a means to an end, and that 
end was the maintaining the proper standard of 
morals. Here was the first organized government 
on the now Maine coast. Under the royal grant by 
which Gorges was enabled to estabhsh this colony, 
the establishment of the service of the Church of 
England was authorized, and to Gorges was given the 
nomination of the ministers to such churches as might 
be set up in the province. The character of the colony 
w^as Episcopal. Vines has been reputed to have been 
a deeply devout man, and this is supported by such 
recorded matters as have come down to us. Doubt- 
less the community which made up the Winter 
Harbor settlement was selected originally by Vines 
with a view to especial fitness for the new citizen- 
ship he proposed to confer upon such as kept him 
company across the water. As a matter of fact, 



136 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

hardly any of early charters fail to insist upon 
some provision for religious instruction of an Epis- 
copal character. Many of the Gorges patents contain 
definite stipulations to that effect. It is to be noted 
that when Robert Gorges was invested with the 
authority of the " General Governor of New England" 
by the Plymouth Council, the Rev. William Morrell, 
a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, was constituted 
superintendent of churches in the Gorges colonies, 
and sent over to perform the functions of that office, 
which, as it turned out, was to exercise but a slight 
influence over the religious tendencies of the Maine 
province. 

Here, at Winter Harbor, or Saco, one of the 
earhest considerations was to provide religious in- 
struction. Thirty-one pounds, fifteen shilUngs were 
raised for the support of the minister, and so it 
came about that in 1636 the Rev. Richard Gibson 
came to them, who went from settlement to settle- 
ment along the coast, missionary-like, but his main 
efforts in the early days of his coming hither were 
given to the building up of a stable refigious society, 
and it was here at this settlement that the first 
Episcopal Church body with any permanence of 
character was organized. An attempt had been 
made before this at Pemaquid, but had failed. In 
1637 Richard Gibson was hving on Richmond's 
Island, where he ministered a part of the time. He 
was well known on the Piscataqua, for he preached 
at Portsmouth, or Strawberrybank, whose settlers 
had, as early as 163P, "set up common prayer," 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 137 

organizing a parish, laying out a parsonage lot of 
fifty acres, and building a chapel and a minister's 
house. In 1640 the Rev. Mr. Gibson had left the 
Saco field and become permanently established at 
Portsmouth. He did not get on very well with 
Winthrop, who says, " He did scandahze our govern- 
ment;" adding, "He being wholly addicted to the 
hierarchy and discipline of England, did exercise a 
ministerial function in the same way, and did marry 
and baptize at the Isle of Shoals, which found to be 
within our jurisdiction," all of which was contrary to 
the law of the Massachusetts Colony. 

The final result of his preaching was his being taken 
into custody and sent to Boston, where he was held in 
confinement until he acknowledged the jurisdiction 
of the Massachusetts government. This was a 
species of persecution common to the Winthrop 
interest, but the offending clergyman was allowed to 
leave under what would be termed to-day a nolle 
prosequi. He was the first pioneer of the English 
Church, a "good scholar, a popular speaker, and 
highly esteemed as a gospel minister by the people 
of his care." Being such, one is interested in following 
the earlier steps of his career among his cho.sen people. 
He was an ardent adherent to the form of service 
established by the church of his faith and openly 
asserted that he saw no reason why New Hampshire 
should be so arbitrarily disposed of by Massachusetts 
in the government of her church affairs. 

This clergyman was followed at the settlement on 
the Saco River, by the Rev. Robert Jordan, afterward 



138 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

best known as being the husband of John Winter's 
daughter, and who, through her, absorbed the 
interest of the Trelawny heirs in due time, to profit by 
the somewhat questionable thrift of his father-in- 
law, if one is to base an opinion upon recorded facts. 
The Rev. Mr. Jordan came over from his Exeter 
diocese about 1640 under the influence of Trelawny, 
the Patentee of the Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth 
lands from Spurwink to Fore River. The head- 
quarters of the Trelawny interest were at Rich- 
mond's Island, where John Winter had located the 
Trelawny trading-houses, and where Bagnall closed 
his human account. This clergyman was young, 
not having attained above twenty-eight years, and 
is spoken of as being "a, welcome laborer." Willis 
notes that " the religious condition of the community 
at this time, east of the Saco, was decidedly, if not 
exclusively, in favor of the Episcopal form of gov- 
ernment and worship." Another writer, Thornton, 
says, "Maine was distinctively EpiscopaHan, and 
w^as intended as a rival to her Puritan neighbors." 
This was in direct accordance with the purposes of 
Charles I. 

The Puritans looked with jealous eye on these 
religious observances of the people in the Maine 
Province, and had formed their plans for taking at 
the first favorable opportunity its control as it had 
taken over New Hampshire. No active interference 
was undertaken until 1642, when Mr. Gibson was 
summoned by the Massachusetts authorities to show 
cause why he should continue to baptize children 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 139 

and perform the rites of the Church of England " con- 
trary to law." 

Going back to 1636-1637, the only existing record 
of church organization in the settlement, apparently, 
is quoted: ''1636 7ber 7, (September 7). The book 
of Rates for the Minister, to be paid quarterly, the 
first payment to begin at Michaelmas next." With 
this are given the names of the colonists active in 
the matter, and the amounts subscribed by each. 
There are six of them; but others, some fifteen, are 
mentioned as interested in the maintenance of 
religious instruction. This is but a fragment, but 
like the parts of some strange fossil of the antedi- 
luvian days, which is sent to the Smithsonian to be 
reconstructed and rehabiUtated into a likeness of its 
original self, so the antiquarian puts this remnant 
within easy reach, and out of it he builds his old log 
church, arranges its interior, invests its pulpit with its 
original personality, arrays its attendants in the sober 
garb of the time. Then he plays usher, to set each in 
his or her accustomed place to engage in the devout 
observance of that beautiful service of the English 
Church, which, to Winthrop, was a scandal to. the 
government and "contrary to law." The first 
church built at Boston was undoubtedly a pro- 
totype of the one built at Winter Harbor. It was 
of logs, of course, and as to dimensions it may have 
been of the size of a country schoolhouse, and in its 
architecture it resembled a small barn. Its eaves 
were low ; its windows were few and scantily glazed ; 
its entrance was on one side, and without doubt, for 



140 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



the lack of carpenters and fit tools, benches were 
used instead of the old-fashioned and stately stall or 
pew common to the]chiirches in the mother country. 
It did not matter so much in those early days how 
the goodman and his good wife were accommodated, 
nor was there much distinction between individuals, 
but the rather a democratic minghng of personali- 
ties, with here and there among the settlements a 
Vines, a Champernown, a Mackworth, or a Cammock. 
No site is pointed out as the place where stood this 




THE OLD GRAVEYARD ON FLETCHER'S NECK 

historic chapel of logs, with its rudely constructed 
pulpit and its roughly hewn benches, its half dozen 
windows with their four lights of seven-by-nine 
glass, and its door, a single slab rived from some 
huge pine butt-log. Its furnishings may have been 
brought from over the water, but there is no record 
pointing to so extravagant a detail. If the Enghsh 
custom of using the churchyard as a place of inter- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 141 

merit prevailed, no excavations as yet have unearthed 
any evidences of such location. It is not to be 
apprehended that there was anything elaborate in the 
appointment of this old church or chapel, or that the 
community or parish was favored with an Olmsted to 
lay out a symmetrical enclosure for a kirkyard with 
its accustomed insignia of mural mosses and dusky 
foliaged trees; but here were trees enough, the con- 
temporaries in age of any that grew in the kirkyards 
of old England. So far as the outward aspect is to 
be entertained, kirkyards are like old wine, to be 
mellowed by long years, and to be endeared by 
intimate acquaintance. The New England burying- 
ground is a type common to the occupancy of bleak 
hillsides or wind-swept knolls, whose crudities 
smack as well of climate as of the rustic conception of 
what "is good enough." Like the paintings of some 
particular artist not particularly endowed with 
originality, to see one specimen is to be able to dis- 
cover the authorship of all others by the same brush 
without glancing at the lower left-hand corner for the 
hieroglyphic of the painter. It serves the purpose, 
however, and covers up just so much space on the 
much-abused wall. So Mother Earth's bosom shows 
many a fast-healing scar in untoward and untidy 
places, but what does it matter where the body 
sleeps if the eternal atom lives in the bosom that 
nursed it originally into a Uving flame ! 

But this first church must have been at Winter 
Harbor, for the nucleus of the settlement was there, 
its various crafts of trade, fish curing, and one may 



142 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

well believe, home building. It was a convenient 
place for the shipping that, about this time, 1636, 
began to lend something of a commercial aspect to the 
locality. The fisheries were an important factor and 
had a local prominence in the enterprises of the time. 
Richmond's Island was in its flower of promise under 
the " grave and discreet" Winter, while the neighbor- 
ing Isles of Shoals was in the heyday of its prosperous 
traffic of the sea, and just across was old Ketterie 
where Champernowne, landlord Bray, and the astute 
Pepperrell were laying the foundations of individual 
fortunes. Winter Harbor was a prosperous com- 
munity from the first, and there are no relations to 
show that its people were otherwise than a peaceful, 
industrious, and law-abiding folk. No doubt the 
personality of its founder, Vines, had much to do with 
this; at least one is constrained to think so when one 
recalls the bickerings, ambitions, jealousies, and 
passions that seemed to obtain in other and not far- 
away contemporary settlements. 

The Puritan Thomas Jenner was preaching as 
early as 1641, his labors extending over a brief 
period of two years, when he went to Weymouth. 
It does not appear that the Episcopalians objected 
to his office, but rather that he was welcomed with a 
true Christian spirit, and his way made easy so far 
as it might be so disposed by lay cooperation. Vines 
appears to have been a Christian gentleman endowed 
with virtues of patience and forbearance. 

It seems that this Puritan minister held some 
correspondence with Winthrop, 1640, in which he 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 143 

gives his impressions of the Episcopahans of Winter 
Harbor. It seems that the coming of this clergy- 
man was due to the efforts of Vines, who had some 
correspondence with Winthrop. Vines's letter to 
Winthrop of January 5, 1640, in part lifts the curtain 
from the portrait. That part only having direct 
reference to Mr. Jenner is quoted. 

" To the right Worshipfull his honored ffriend, John 
Wenthrop: Esq. at Boston, thes in Massachusetts. 
" Right Worshipfull, — I received your letter con- 





Cy^'^^^^'^u!^. 



cerning Mr. Jenner; acknowledging your former 
courtesies to my selfe, and for your furtherance of a 
minister for vs, our whole Plantacion ar greatly 
behoulding vnto you. We haue ioyned both sides of 
our river together for his mayntenance, and haue 
willingly contributed for his stipend 47Zi per annum : 
hoping the Lord will blesse and sanctifie his word 
vnto vs, that we may both be hearers and doers of the 
word and will of God. I like Mr. Jenner his life and 
conversacion, and alsoe his preaching, i] he would lett 



144 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the Church of England alone; that doth much trouble 
me, to heare our mother Church questioned for her 
impurity vpon every occasion, as if Men (ministers, 
I mean) had no other marke to aime at, but the paps 
that gaue them suck, and from whence they first 
received the bread of hfe. . . . 

Rich: Vines." 

The remainder of this letter is taken up with a 
discussion and defense of the good name of Gorges. 
Cleeve, of Casco, was of a jealous and contentious dis- 
position, and twenty days later Vines despatches 
another letter to Winthrop, from which the follow- 
ing is quoted: 

"I shall humbly intreate your advise herein, what 
course is to be taken, that I may free my selfe from 
blame and the maUce of Cleiues who is a fire-brand of 
dissention, and hath sett the whole province together 
by the yeares. I make bould to trouble you herin, as a 
case of greate difficultie, desireing your answeare by 
the first convenience." And then, hke the gentle- 
man he must have been, he adds with a touch of 
sweet amenity — " I vnderstood by Mr. Shurt that 
you desired some gray peas for seed. Out of my small 
store I have sent you a bushell, desiring your accept- 
ance thereof, ffrom 

Your ffriend and servant. 

Rich: Vines." 

"Gray peas," a bushel of tiny spheres, each one 
holding the germ of a little world of romance, an 
oasis of suggestive picturesqueness in nature amid 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 145 

this atmosphere of self-seeking to bring the gladness 
of spring, the graciousness of summer, and the plenti- 
tude of autmiin as a fit setting for the scenes and the 
characters that fill our Uttle stage at Winter Harbor. 
I am heartily dehgh ted with those "gray peas," for I 
can see them from their planting among the other 
treasures of the old farm garden, and I follow them 
with all the cherishing soHcitude of their sower, to go 
with him in the season of their garnering to enjoy 
their bounty. So it is, 

" One touch of Nature makes the world akin." 

But suppose one takes a glimpse of this pioneer 
community through the lens of the Puritan Jenner. 
His colors are not so Umber, and hke some spring 
waters, it has a brackish taste, this letter of his 
written from Saco in 1640. Here is Mr. Jenner's let- 
ter entire: 

"To the Right Worship his very louing & kind 
friend Mr. Wintrop, at his howse in Boston in N. E. 
guie theise I pray. 

" Worthy Sir : — My due respect being remembered 
to you, I heartily salute you in the Lord ; glueing you 
humble thanks, for your favorable aspect which 
hath alwaies bin towards me, (though of me most 
undeserued,) and especially for your late kind letter 
on my behalf e ; for which sake I was kindly imbraced 
aboue the expectation of my selfe, & others, and am 
still (I thank God) loueingly respected amongst them : 
but not without some hot discourses, (especially about 
the ceremonies;) yet they all haue ended (through 



146 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

mercy) in peace ; and for aught I can percieue, doe prize 
the word, & reUsh it, dayly better than other, and some 
promise faire; euen in Mr. Vines his family. But 
generally they were ignorant, superstitious, & vitious, 
and scarce any religious. Ffre leaue they giue me to 
doe what soever I please; imposeing nothing on me, 
either publikly or privately, which my selfe dislike, 
onely this, Mr. Vines & the captaine (Bonython) both, 
haue timely expressed themselues to be utterly against 
church-way, saying their Patent doth prohibit the 
same; yet I, for my part neuer once touched upon it, 
except when they themselues haue in private dis- 
course put me upon it by questions of their owne, 
ffor I count it no season as yet to go build, before 
God sends vs materials to build with all. Thus 
being in some hast, I end humbly craning your 

prayers : 

Your worships to command 
Tho: Jenner." 

By this letter it seems there was some move to 
build a place of meeting, but whether because the 
original was too small or because at that time there 
was no church edifice, must remain undetermined. 
The inference would be that there was no sufficient 
place of worsliip, or perhaps the locahty was incon- 
venient. Be that as it may, there is such a dearth 
of authentic record that the matter must be left 
undecided. 

In 1643, Vines wrote again to Winthrop complain- 
ing about the disposition of Cleeve to get into a 
quarrel. Cleeve had got quite a hamlet about him- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



147 



self at Casco, and in the meantime Winter had kept 
up a hot pursuit in the direction of Casco River which 
he claimed was the name rightfully for that of the 
Presumscot, and to the certification of which he 
brought numerous depositions, the result of all which 
was a lawsuit, which was finally adjudicated by the 
local court of which Thomas Gorges was the presiding 
justice. The associate justices were Richard Vines, 
Richard Bonython, Henry Jocelyn, and Edward 
Godfrey. The jury brought in for the plaintiff, and 




FORT HILL— ENTRANCE TO THE POOL 



the title to the lands east of Fore or Casco River 
was established in Cleeve. But the tables were soon 
to be turned against the Oldham and Vines patents. 
The fourteenth of June, 1645, was an eventful 
day in the fortunes of these New England promoters. 
On that day Charles engaged the Puritans under 
Cromwell at Naseby, and was obliged to leave Eng- 
land to take refuge with the Scots not long after. 
Treacherously betrayed by the latter into the hands 
of Cromwell, September 21, 1646, the Puritans were 



148 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

in full sway in England and the high-churchmen of 
that country were harrassed, prosecuted, and mur- 
dered by Cromwell's fanatics. It was at this time 
Jenner was preaching at Winter Harbor. With the 
king in safe custody, the Winthrop influence was 
in the ascendency, but Winthrop still kept his gloves 
of velvet for company use. He was aware of the 
differences growing up in England against the un- 
fortunate Charles and bided his time. In 1643 
Cleeve left o i his voyage for England, to serve in the 
Puritan army, by which he was able to enlist the 
Rigby interest. The Gorges patents were annulled 
on the ground of latent fraud, and the Gorges titles 
were confirmed to Alexander Rigby, who appointed 
Cleeve his first deputy for the Pro\dnce. The Gorges 
and the Trelawny influence went down with Charles, 
and as a matter of course the New England adherents 
to their interests lost caste politically with the Crom- 
well faction. Parliament was again in session, from 
which, on April 28, 1643, according to Willis, a com- 
mission was issued directed to Winthrop, Mack- 
worth, Henry Bode, and others, to examine into 
certain articles exhibited by Cleeve to parliament 
against Vines. To his Petition to parliament Cleeve 
forged the names of Mackworth, Wadleigh, Watts, 
and several others of the well-known colonists, which 
fact was disclosed at the court held at Saco in October 
of 1645. Winthrop kept on his gloves of velvet and 
declined the parliament commission, as did i\Iack- 
worth and Bode. That Cleeve was an active factor 
in this matter is accentuated by the effort on the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 149 

part of Cleeve to smirch the character of Vmes, and is 
good evidence of mahce. In 1643, the same year of 
his voyaging across to England, Cleeve had returned 
to Boston, where he tried to acquire the influence and 
protection of the General Court, alleging his fear of 
open opposition to the exercise of the commission 
which he brought along with, him from Rigby, mak- 
ing him deputy governor of Ligonia, which extended 
from Pemaquid to Porpas. Upon the arrival of 
Cleeve ^^ithin his baihwick he made known his author- 
ity, to be ^^gorously opposed by Vines who imme- 
diately called a court at Saco. Vines had the 
main support of the colonists and was elected deputy 
governor the following year, in the Gorges interest. 
So there were two deputy governors, and each had 
his faction. Cleeve wrote Mnes that he was wilhng 
to sul^mit the matter of jurisdiction to the ^lassachu- 
setts government, and sent his ultimatum by Richard 
Tucker. Upon Tucker's arrival at Saco he was 
arrested and imprisoned, to be released upon his bond 
for his appearing at court and his mtervening good 
behavior. 

Upon that, Cleeve wTote to "Winthrop, "vvith the 
result that Vines went to Boston, 1644, for a con- 
ference with Winthrop, but wiiich resulted in Win- 
throp adhering to his previous neutral course. While 
Cleeve 's rushlight of coveted powder burned but 
feebly from that on, with the complete triumph of 
Rigby's party it gathered fresh flame, and Cleeve 
approached Winthrop again, but his letter was so 
inoperative that, in October fohowing. Vines held his 



150 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

court at Saco as usual, and Vines was again made 
deputy governor, with the provision that if Vines 
"should depart, Henry Jocelyn to be deputy in his 
place." A tax was laid, and Casco was taxed for ten 
shilUngs. 

With the capture of Bristol by Cromwell, Gorges 
was taken prisoner and his estates plundered. He 
was thrown into prison and is supposed to have 
died not long after. This was in 1645. This same 
year the Saco court ordered "that Richard Vines 
shall have power to take into his possession the goods 
and chattels of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and to pay 
such debts as Sir Ferdinando is in any way indebted 
to pay." Likewise a pubUc fast was ordered to be 
"solemnly kept upon Thursday, 20th of November 
next, through this Province." The death of Gorges 
was a loss to the province, and to Vines no doubt 
it brought a sharp barb of distress. 

Vines had led an active and honored life here at 
Winter Harbor, doing what he could for his settlers 
and those who came to the settlement later. His 
attitude in regard to religious matters gave a health- 
ier tone to the community, and had Winter and 
Cleeve been more pacific, and less quarrelsome and 
greedy of land and personal influence, possibly Vines 
might have lived among his chosen people to a ripe old 
age. His forbearance with Mr. Jenner shows the 
gentle side of his character, who went away from 
Saco three years after. 

With Mr. Jenner's going the vacancy in the Winter 
Harbor church remained to accent his value to his 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 151 

people. Why he left is not certain, but he died not 
long after, and it is reported in straitened circum- 
stances. The court had charge of matters ecclesias- 
tic, and as the place was without a minister, when it 
went into session at Wells, later, it ordered that one 
Robert Booth, who was reputed to be a man of charac- 
ter and high standing in his community, and a devout, 
and as well a man of some brains, natural and ac- 
quired, "have liberty to exercise his gifts for the 
edification of the people," not an uncommon occur- 
rence in these more modern days where the people are 
rich in spirit and poor in pocket. 

It is somewhat singular that nothing remains to 
show where the first church foundation stones were 
planted, being much less fortunate in that respect 
than York, Kittery, or even Casco. There seems to 
have been no authentic records left, and perhaps the 
reason for this hes in the fact that the organization 
was Episcopalian and the times were soon to become 
rigidly Puritan. It only needed the firm hand to 
lay its weight on recalcitrant laymen and ministers 
who worshipped "contrary to law," as the Episco- 
palians of the province did, hardly a half dozen years 
later; for Winthrop pulled off his gloves of velvet in 
1652 and proceeded to take within his palms the 
reins of government of the Maine province on a fiction 
of the Merrimac boundary, when those who did not, 
"after the most straitest sect of our rehgion," demean 
themselves as Puritans, were ordered out of town. 
But Booth was supported by the town appropriation, 
and as well voluntary contributions from the people. 



152 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

In a conveyance of land at Winter Harbor, 1642, 
in connection with one of the boundary hnes, Church 
Point appears. It must have been named in reference 
to the location of the church of the time. It may be 
regarded as offering a suggestion of much historic 
weight. One annalist of things pertaining to those 
old days and their happenings queries, "Was it not 
named for one Captain Church? " There is no record 
of any man of that name who had acquired any, or 
sufficient notoriety to warrant a supposition of that 
nature. Major Church, of Brackett's woods fame, 
was born in 1639; and the only other military charac- 
ter of that name was in the Arnold Expedition. It is 
not likely that it would be named for a sea captain, 
and I do not find the name was among the Winter 
Harbor contingent at any time. I believe it has 
direct reference to the fact that the early church was 
located in its immediate vicinage. There was, how- 
ever, a Congregational meeting house here about 1660- 
1667, the location of which is indicated by a cluster 
of ancient graves, whose faded outUnes are not as 
yet obliterated utterly by Nature. As one stands 
beside these worn pages spread out at one's feet, 
the text of which is written in the verdant hiero- 
glyphics of nature, a cluster of bluets, a tuft of wild 
violets, a medley of weeds, or the softer pile of the 
grasses, and essays to read the story of these humble 
lives, which after all is but the story of 

"The meanest floweret in the vale, 
The simplest note that swells the gale, 
The common sun, the air, the skies," 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 153 

sounding always the note of immortality, one recalls 
with a sigh with Horace Smith, 

"Thinking is but an idle waste of thought, 
And nought is everything, and everything is nought. " 

The Vines settlement was along the sheltered 
rim of the Winter Harbor shore. How many cabins 
there may have been we have no means of knowing, 
but we have the names of Bonython, Gibbins (prob- 
ably one of Levett's men left on House Island), 
Waddock, Boad, Scadlock, and Samuel Andrews, who 
died prior to 1638, and to whose widow Vines con- 
firmed the title to one hundred acres of land, with 
the privilege of procuring hay from the marshes at an 
annual quit rent of twelve pence, payable at the 
feast of "St. Michaell the arkangell," and which are 
suggestive of a rude and hardy people. 

Here is a stanza common to the time of which we 
write, 

"And when the tenants come 
To pay their quarter rent, 
They bring some fowl at midsummer, 

A dish of fish at Lent ; 
At Christmas, a fat capon; 
At Michaelmas, a goose; 
And somewhat else at New Year's tide 
For fear their lease may loose. " 

It was a rude and hardy hfe they hved. Their 
first homes were log cabins, the eaves of which were 
low; their interiors were plastered with clay from 
the meadows. Their chimneys were roughly built 
of flat stone, their crannies stuffed with mud, within 



154 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the jambs of which could be clustered the whole 
family, with the bright stars aglow in the huge open- 
ing at the top, or the snow and the rain beating down 
its generous flue to set the back-log a-sputtering with 
discontent at the advent of so unceremonious an 
interference. There was often a lack of clothing, but 
plenty of wood, and generally something to eat. 
The axe and the gun were the weapons of necessity. 
The former was the tool of the clearings and the 
roughly hewn walls of their houses and the "winter 




WOOD ISLAND 



fire, while the gun was the surcease of many a 
prowUng wolf or screaming panther; and as for the 
larder, a bear steak, or a haunch of venison, a brace 
of ducks or a bag of grouse would hardly come 
without the gun. Everything smacked of hardi- 
hood. Even the corn had to be dibbled into 
the soil between the blackened stumps of the rick. 
The women Uke the men were gifted with great 
courage, which was mellowed and made beautiful by 
a stock of patience and cheerfulness. They were 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL, 155 

days when one went a-foot or remained at home; 
nor was there much to call one from home unless the 
grist got low; but those were the days of the samp- 
mill, a rude affair of the mortar and pestle sort that 
would hold a half bushel of shelled corn, which was 
converted into a coarse meal by pounding with the 
pestle which was attached to a limb of the old- 
fashioned well-sweep family, which greatly faciUtated 
the up-and-down movement which accomplished the 
somewhat toilsome process of grinding. Not always 
was there a wooden floor, even, under the feet of these 
cabin dwellers. As one might beUeve, there were not 
many idle days for these pioneers; for the clearings 
were to be widened as rapidly as possible. The 
farms were to be their main resource. Some were 
fishing when the weather served, while others were 
at work about the fish-flakes that began to line the 
slopes. Of course a rude wharf was among the first 
of the public improvements, and the ships as they 
came for a few days' stay, or a brief touch of the 
Winter Harbor acquaintance, were each an episode 
that brought the settlement shoreward with a de- 
lighted greeting. 

When the sun had gone down, the silence of the 
original wilderness prevailed, to be broken in upon 
by the same untoward sounds that had ever been 
its peculiar enlivenment ; but sleep is sleep, the world 
over, and while these sounds surged through the 
gloom of these Saco woods, the weary settler slept, 
while the mother held her little ones within a closer 
reach. So the night went. With the gray of the 



156 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

morning the ash-covered coals were raked open and 
the hearth was soon aglow, while from the ragged 
chimney top the smoke spun away on the morning 
wind, and along the winding paths that led from 
cabin to cabin the settlers were out to see what the 
day was to be like, while indoors the housewife got 
the breakfast of corn bread ready. The children 
dressed themselves and were off to the nearest spring 
for water. Everybody had something to do. There 
were no idle hands, for idle hands made idle mouths. 
Those were friendly days with the Abenake; for their 
wigwams were often near neighbors to the more 
civilized cabin, and the savage made himself " boon 
welcome" wherever he happened to be, the fumes 
of his stone pipe mingling with that of his white host, 
after which he would roll himself in his blanket, and 
with his back to the glowing fire he would drowse 
the night away while the settler and his wife slept, or 
lay awake, as their acquaintance with their visitor 
warranted. But the aborigine was docile enough 
when not inflamed with the aqua vitae with which 
the settlements were abundantly supplied in those 
days. The favorite seat was on the settle, which was 
generally hardly more than a rudely hewn plank. 
Somewhere about the room was a chest of drawers, 
an old-fashioned highboy, perhaps brought from over 
the water. Along the fire mantel were set in modest 
array the dishes of pewter off which the family ate; 
and above these was the gunrack and along the 
jambs hung the nets and fishing lines. In one corner 
leaned a pair of oars, roughly shaven and clumsy. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 157 

In those times wherever wood was used, there was 
sure to be enough of it, as the tools of the period 
show. They were rude times when the rye and 
barley heads were cut off and the grain rubbed out 
by hand, for there were no threshing floors, nor did 
it occur to these practical folk to adopt the primitive 
fashion of using mother earth's bosom as a garner 
floor after the oriental manner. Sure enough, they 
had plenty of time, and perhaps it did not matter, 
for nothing was so much condemned as waste. 
According to the scripture, it is the diligent hand 
that maketh rich, but then it was the careful hand 
that made life secure. A tiny grain was worth much 
as a seed, and there were times when seed was scarce; 
but the prudent settler was sure to set apart enough 
for the spring planting or sowing where it would be safe 
from the mice and the squirrel, while the remainder 
was doled out with sparing hand; not that these 
people were mean or stingy, for that would be far 
from the truth, but careful to see Candlemas found 
them with a little more than half their autumn store 
on hand. It was simple thrift, and nothing more. 

In those days a hole in some adjacent hillside served 
as a cellar, and the hay for the cattle was stored in 
stacks after the fashion of the Middle West in these 
modern days, while the cattle were housed from the 
inclemency of winter in a log shed that opened into 
the southern quarter. The evening lamp was of the 
most primitive sort. Its oil was the congealed 
varnish of the pitch-pine, and its wick was the 
fiber of the tree in which its original saps were distilled, 



158 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

while the rude hearth made an ample socket for this 
arc light of nature. These open fires, and in the 
early days these sufficed all the necessities of the 
settler, were the sacrificial altars, while their chimney 
tops were the distributors of their varied incense. 
It was over them that the morning, midday, and 
evening repasts were prepared, and it was above 
them that the sooty crane extended a beneficent 
arm. Longfellow had not then unloosed 

"the magician's scroll 
That in the owner's keeping shrinks 
With every wish he speaks or thinks. 
Till the last msh consumes the whole, " 

to reveal the mystic treasures of this servant to the 
pots and kettles of the domestic realm. These open 
fires gave heat by day and they made pictures on the 
walls and sang songs of the woods after nightfall. 

These settlers were altogether poets and mystics, 
else they would have had no thought of whether the 
midday of February were fair or foul, nor voiced the 
couplet, 

" If Candlemas day be fair and bright 
Winter ^all take another flight," 

for the old saw of the groundhog and his shadow on 
the snow was pregnant with the sensing of their 
latent superstitions. Poets, did I say? Yes, they 
were poets, but they were unaware of it. Sons of 
Nature, as Timseus says, they were trees with their 
roots growing in the air. They wrote poetry, but 
they used a dibble instead of a pen, an invisible 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



159 



writing that required the heat of the sun to make its 
hues legible. Mystics they were as well, else they 
would not have delved in the soil, fished the seas, or 
built their cabins, and like'vxdse propagated their 
race. They had not the eyes of Lync?eus, yet they 
were not blind, by any means. They saw the agaric 
spring up in a night. They called it a toadstool, 
but they knew not the mystery of its propagation, 
yet it was subject to the same law as themselves. 

They found "no history or church or state" here 
interpolated on land or sea or sky or the round 




STAGE ISLAND 

year. They did find, however, the enchantments of 
the original wilderness as God made them, and they 
were rarely tonic and medicinal. Here was room 
for all the senses and food for all talent and as well 
genius. Their literature in chief was what they 
were able to translate from the constantly wide-open 
page of Nature. Perhaps it was well they had no 
other. Take the summing up of " Tiraboschi, Warton, 
or Schlegel," and theh aggregate of "ideas and 
original tales" comprises the measure. All else in 
literature, to coincide with Emerson, is of the essence 
of variation, an old song reset and revamped, and yet 



160 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

never wholly obscured by a multiplicity of variations. 
Like the germ hidden in its husk of chaff, the vital 
thought long ago planted by another is there. 

But these settlers had no time for literature. As 
for their church, they brought with them the creed of 
their ancestors, and out of its suggestion of the 
Divinity they shaped their ends as its light shone into 
their souls. Out of the bubbling spring they drank 
inspiration, and in the pungent caress of the wintry 
sleet was the spur to a more active effort and inven- 
tion. The reflection of the trees or the sky in the 
placid waters served them a better art than that of a 
Turner or a Corot; and each clump of pines or hem- 
locks that swallowed up the smokes of their cabins 
was richer in harmonies than the spinet of a Mendels- 
sohn. They lived in the realm where Nature turned 
out her sturdiest products, to breed their share of a 
notable race. Here was something better than the 
seven wonders of the world, — it was Nature in the 
original, unexpurgated, uncurtailed. The "magical 
lights" of the heavens showed them their way, by 
day or night, and enhanced their gifts by a benignant 
radiance. Every dawn was a book of prophecy, 
and every sunset a gazetteer of the day's doings. 

They had no need of literature, poetry, or science, 
for they had not yet arrived at the adequate powers 
of adaptation. Their lessons in these were visual, 
and they had but to look out of doors and theirs was 
the privilege of a free translation. Each read to his 
taste and his need. Their philosophy was the cult of 
materiahsm, the philosophy of ''Motion, and of 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 161 

Rest." These were the mysteries to be unlocked, 
and Hke All Baba, they caught the echo of the magic 
word, to open up the wealth of Nature as they loved 
it best, as a reversionary legacy to unborn generations ; 
for here were all the elements of Force waiting to be 
fused in the crucible of the new civilization. 

A well-known writer reads Guizot and complains 
that the latter did not define civihzation. It is 
probable that the French historian refrained, not for 
want of a definition, but because of the multiplicity 
of definitions of which the word is susceptible. I 
think this must be true; for, were I asked to define, 
I should have to conform to my own point of view, 
that here was a process of unconscious yet inevitable 
evolution; as if, from the chrysalis stage, the inner 
crudities were emerging into outer symmetries; as 
if necessity plied the whip, or desire stimulated the 
abortive effort wholly to achieve some power of secret 
ambition to repeat itself, until at the last some genius 
for labeling things gathers these multiplied results of 
social amenity, culture, arts, sciences, and Hterature, 
under the shelter of a generic term. 

A frost out of season or a dark day were lines in 
italics to be committed to memory, and which were 
as exhilarating to the tongue as old wine; for the 
craft of Nature was not wholly solved by them, and 
these untoward happenings that called for a candle 
at midday kindled the smouldering ashes of their 
superstition; and then, as Nature resumed her 
wonted and familiar guise, and got her balance back, 
they picked up the threads of their commonplace 



162 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

experiences. So they went, to the end, thought, 
beauty, and virtue increasing to become the ultimate 
ends of their strivings. 

Their stanch resource was the primeval forest. 
Here was the settler's larder. It tempered the 
inclemency of the winter and the fury of the summer 
tempest toward the roofs that hugged their shadows. 
It gave him his hght and heat. It held as well, its 
scourge, rose-Uke, as the lurking place for wild beasts; 
but with the sunlight and the wide sea before, these 
were like to be forgotten, unless it were the season 



BASKET ISLAND AND BREAKWATER 

of the palatable wild grape or of the abundant 
fruitage of the canes of the blackberry or raspberry. 

It was among such scenes and under the sway of 
such influences that this Winter Harbor colony began 
its existence. Its peaceful aTid almost prosaic history, 
from an internal point of view, betrays the mild, 
temperate, and salutatory character of its master- 
mind. Vines. He knew the full worth of character, 
as is evident from his solicitude for the spiritual 
welfare of the settler under his immediate guidance. 
Vines preceded Carlyle, but left it to Carlyle to voice 
his thought, that "religion makes society possible." 
Except for the naturally quiet and reserved side to 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 163 

this earliest pioneer of the Saco, he would have played 
his part as prominently as did Winthrop; but he 
tired of the interference of his neighbor Cleeve at 
Casco Neck; the bickering of Winter, who from his 
isolated trading post on Richmond's Island let fly a 
frequent shaft of cupidious discontent; and the ill- 
concealed pohcy of Winthrop, who through his 
Puritan propagandists, like Jenner, drove nails into 
the Episcopal coffin as fast as the average layman 
of the Church of England beUef of the times could 
pull them out. 

To an honest man, honestly determined, these 
games on the Saco checkerboard were engaged in 
with reluctance on the part of Vines. He was hke a 
high-spirited horse besieged by gnats on either flank. 
Nor were the amenities of trade and its accompany- 
ing profits, and which was of growing importance in 
fish, furs, agricultural products, and manufactured 
lumber, sufficient to enable him to ignore with a well- 
simulated indifference, the subtile poHcy of Winthrop 
that was bound to find here and there a patch of 
fertile soil amid the steady accretions which Vines's 
settlement was taking on. Vines could not but 
realize that the balance of personal influence would 
shift abruptly when the time came, as it did. It was 
inevitable that the plus sign in the personal equation 
should become a minus; for Cleeve was an actual co- 
adjutor of the plans of Winthrop, though he was 
unconscious of the fact. Cleeve kept up a not infre- 
quent communication with the Richelieu of the 
Massachusetts colony, nor did Winthrop fail to temper 



164 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

his breath to the coal that burst into a Hvely flame in 
the latter part of 1643 upon Cleeve's assumption of 
the function of Deputy President under the protection 
of the Puritan Rigby. English Royahsm, apparently 
wounded to the death, had succumbed to the fledge- 
ling influence that played mid^\ife at the birth of the 
Non-Conformist opinion that found safe asylum at 
Leyden, and whose stature was in nowise stunted by 
the rugged chmate of Cape Cod. It had more than 
exceeded the anticipations of its Non-Conformist 
relatives in England, under the wise yet jealously 
rigid administration of Massachusetts Bay. 

Vines and his settlers had learned much beside the 
Indian method of planting maize. Stratton's law- 
suit against an old kettle, the forgeries of Cleeve, the 
empty vaporings of John Bonython against the 
Episcopal Gibson, the gossip of Cleeve about Winter's 
wife, indicated an atmosphere surcharged with 
litigious currents, of which the founder of the Winter 
Harbor settlement had a surfeit. 

Gorges a prisoner, held in a common gaol, and 
subject to the not over merciful or considerate 
fanaticism of the later slayers of Charles, whose doom 
was irrevocably settled with the surrender of Bristol, 
to touch the shores of Finality three years later, 
stood for impotent politics. 

Cleeve of Casco had assumed the Puritan garb, 
and with a yoeman arrogance that betrayed the mis- 
fit of his honors, undertook as well to reflect the 
questionable luster of Naseby and Marston Moor, 
that was but the w^eak afterglow of fires that had 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 165 

burned down, by donning the Provincial ermine as 
the chief magistrate of the Lygonia lands, and by 
which the Gorges patents were gorged at a single 
gulp. 

With this came the inevitable conflict of jurisdiction. 
Rigby's deputy president had an attack of heart 
failure in Boston, and appealed to the General Court 
for protection while he began his sharklike meal off 
Vines and his adherents, but he was advised to broil 
his own fish as best he could. Cleeve returned to 
Casco, put on a bold face, convened his court at 
Casco, confirmed his associates, and made his demand 
on Vines. Vines was unyielding in his loyalty to the 
Gorges' rights; nevertheless, Cleeve was constantly 
aggressive. Winthrop, appealed to now and then, 
refused his mediation. Cleeve put hobnails on his 
shoes and strode sturdily off to oust Vines, dissolve 
his court at Saco, and create general havoc; but 
Vines remained imperturbable and undismayed to 
open his court as usual, at which he was chosen deputy 
governor by the leading planters of the province, 
whose local leaders were augmented by Mackworth, 
Bonython, and Jocelyn. Cleeve everywhere got the 
"cold shoulder" unless within his httle bailiwick 
of Casco Neck where he played the part of a Hampden 
to a limited field. At the Saco election, Jocelyn was 
elected as Vines' assistant; for it was even then 
broached that Vines was about to close out his inter- 
ests and sail away, as he sailed hither from old Eng- 
land, to a new country. 

He had no Hking for Cleeve, and it was evident 



166 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

he intended to avoid a controversy. He had dis- 
covered long before what Cleeve's Spurwink partner, 
Tucker, was just surmising. Tucker's knowledge of 
Cleeve's inequalities of character and his implacable 
disposition was forced home when he had resolved to 
remove his interests to Portsmouth, leaving Cleeve to 
his own devices. A postscript of a letter of the Rever- 
end Jenner in February of 1646 to Winthrop throws 
a sidelight upon their mutual affairs. "Sir, I haue 
lately ben earnestly solicited by one Mrs. Tucker, an 




STRATTON AND BLUFF ISLANDS 



intimate friend of mine, & an approved godly woman, 
that I would writ vnto your worship; that in case Mr. 
Cleaue & her husband (Mr. Tucker) shall happen to 
haue recourse to your selfe, to end some matters of 
difference betweene them, now at their departure 
each from the other, that you would be pleased, as 
much as in your lye, not to suffer Mr. Cleaue to WTong 
her husband, for though her husband hath ben as it 
were a servant hitherto to Mr. Cleaue, yet now at 
their making vp of accounts, Mr. Cleaue by his sub- 
till head, brings in ]\Ir. Tucker 100 li. debter to liim." 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 167 

This might be taken as a substantial arraignment of 
Cleeve's integrity in business matters from the 
Tucker point of view, which must have been of the 
most intimate character. But one must allow for a 
certain bias in these representations which from a 
most generous disposition toward the parties involved 
indicate friction. 

Vines foresaw that the power of Cleeve was likely 
to be unbridled in the near future, and that he would 
drive more hobnails into his shoes, so that his tread 
might be the surer. Cleeve was likely, as well, to 
limit his rough-riding only by his ingenuity to harrass 
and damage such as had stood across his road there- 
tofore, and by whom he had been effectively ob- 
structed in his ambitions for the acquisition of wider 
territory, and the power incident to a recognized 
influence, of which disturbing inclinations Vines had 
already become abundantly aware. 

It was at this juncture that Vines's foresight ren- 
dered him most excellent service. The Gorges influ- 
ence in abeyance, he would be without adequate 
protection or adequate remedy at law; so he sold his 
Winter Harbor interests to Dr. Robert Child of 
England and took ship to sail away to the mild climate 
of the Barbadoes, where he engaged in the practice of 
medicine, leaving behind the controversies and the 
crudities of pioneer life that had been his portion for a 
half generation. From Saco to Casco Neck there 
was much of human perversity and Utigious ebullition, 
as has been heretofore commented upon, along with 
the haling of Cleeve to court by Winter in an action 



168 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

of slander, which was duplicated by the Rev. Mr. 
Gibson because the somewhat awry disposition of 
John Bonython led him to assail the curate as "a 
base priest, a base knave, a base fellow," which 
was more an indication of a hmited vocabulary on 
Bonython's part than of any special damage to the 
fair fame of the preacher. But the needle got under 
the skin to make the teacher of spiritual things 
wince, and the court mulcted the respondent Bony- 
thon in the sum of six pounds and six sliiUings, 
and expense and costs at twelve shilhngs and six- 
pence. Such was the estimate of wounded feehngs 
in those days, and which were e\idently more tenderly 
considered than two hmidred years later when one cent 
and costs have come to be the prevailing size of the 
salve prescribed by one's peers under the direction 
of modern justice, when it would have been more to 
the minister's profit to have kept out of law and 
turned the other cheek to his adversary. 

These incidents are but sidehghts, but they light 
the way along so one easily distinguishes the chips on 
the shoulders, and which were apparently as numer- 
ous as epaulets in times of war. It is no wonder that 
a man of Vines's temperament should weary and suc- 
cumb finally to a legitimate disgust and a desire to be 
well rid of it all; but with the departure of Mnes the 
settlement lost its most dihgent and solicitous friend. 

One can imagine Vines sailing away, every bond 
cut loose except the warm friendships left behind, as 
of Bonython, Jocelyn, and Mackworth, and Cam- 
mock, as well. Perhaps the keenest regrets were 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 169 

sounded as he thought of those who had been his 
servants and co-helpers in the conducting of his own 
fortunes, all of whom, of course, kept him company 
to his ship as he uttered his last friendly words of 
counsel and suggestion. One can hear them shout- 
ing a hon voyage, such as could come by the words 
readily; for I like to believe that the parting with so 
excellent a friend would beget a tear from those who 
were left behind. He was their Moses, and the limit- 
less horizon the Pisgah whither he was sailing, as 

" The broad seas swelled to meet the keel 
And swee^D behind." 

Of all the notes indeUbly written upon the recollec- 
tions of the chroniclers of those times, not a dis- 
paraging word of this man. Vines, Champernoun, and 
Jocelyn were the Chesterfields of the coast settle- 
ments from the Piscataqua to Casco. They made a 
notable triad. I apprehend there was sorrow in the 
heart of Vines, as if he had been exiled, as in fact 
he was, by considerations of an immediate personal 
character. Here he had spent the best years of his 
Ufe, and he was hke an old man leaving the old home 
with all its comfortable nooks and ingles, for the new 
and untried with its unfamihar environments. 

Undoubtedly, of all others, Richard Bonython, 
Vines's co-pioneer who came from amid the gorse of 
West Cornwall, stood closest to the latter. They 
were associate members of the same court, and Bony- 
thon was of that grave and gentle demeanor that 
would appeal warmly to Vines. Bonython's son 



170 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

John, the outlaw, was ever a rebelhous and way- 
ward fellow. Baxter calls him "Reprobate"; and 
then he remarks, " such was the unflinching rectitude 
of the father, that he entered a complaint against 
him for threatening violence to Richard Vines. " 

What experiences must have crowded upon Vines' 
recollection as the Saco shores faded away, of court- 
ships among the young people, of marriages, births, 
illnesses, and death, for Winter Harbor was a little 
world apart to him, whose sympathies were as rich 
as though they had been more plentifully endowed 
with humanity. The old burying place, of which no 
trace remains, must have held the mother of the 
daughter who kept her father company. Perhaps it 
was on some rough hillside whose broken lines were 
made smooth and straight as the distance grew. He 
must have had some thought of that once Merrie 
England before the Puritans had felled the Maypoles 
and ploughed up the "dancing greens" and which 
he had some time left to the less sturdy ambitions. 

If Cleeve gloated over the retirement of Vines from 
the magistracy, his departure from the Province, and 
his voluntary defeat, his own ascendency was of 
brief duration, and, at last, with Massachusetts for 
the whip-hand, shorn of his importance and his 
means he found the lees of fallen ambitions and 
straitened circumstances as bitter as had others 
before him. The Rigby rights had been annulled to 
the Lygonia Lands by the EngHsh courts and the 
heirs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges had been reinstated 
in their succession under the original grant to Gorges. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 111 

Winter Harbor had its day, as had the Trelawny 
trading houses at Richmond's Island, the Isles of 
Shoals, and maritime Kittery. Yet Winter Harbor 
is not wholly of Past; for, it has become, Uke many 
once prosperous pioneer settlements, a summering 
place, a resort for the pleasure seeker, and a soil of 
scant fertiUty for the antiquarian. 

Its islands and broken reefs He asleep in the summer 
sunshine, or grow restive under the lashing of the 



> 

THE GOOSEBERRIES, EAST PT., FLETCHERS NECK 

storm-driven seas, and when the tempest has flown 
the sky is again luminous with all the glory of myriad 
dyes whose invisible drippings give the sea its pig- 
ments to reflect all the colors of the prism. Along 
the yellow sands the surf weaves ribbons of snowy 
insertion to make more brilliant the green of the 
slopes and the marge of the woodland. Among all 
this wealth of verdure not a tree or vestige of root 
that knew the touch of Vines remains. Only the 
sands, the seaweed-smothered rocks and the sea, 
and the bowl of the pool that shrinks and grows with 
the eternal tides, and the historic river out of all the 
days long gone greet to-day. 



172 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Such is the mutabihty of Time, the labors of Nature 
spread on this random page. As one runs, one reads, 

"In Being's floods, in Action's storm 
I walk and work, above, beneath, 
Work and weave in endless Motion! 

Birth and Death, 

An infinite ocean ; 

A seizing and giving 

The fire of Living; 
'Tis thus at the loom of Time I ply. " 

Nature does not give her children kindergarten 
blocks with which to amuse themselves, but she 
smites them in the face with her logic club of eternal 
change, and thunders out, "Look up! Look out!" 
so we may see her garb more intently, to discover it 
to be "the visible garment of God." So, only the 
apparition of the Winter Harbor settlement remains; 
and but for man's love for the sea and the wide 
outdoors, even its site would have reverted to a 
semblance of its original shag. 

One may say of Vines, 

"Nothing of him that doth fade 
But doth suffer a sea-change 
Into something rich and strange. " 




-jEjlLi»)'iifaij£jll3j!i(rj!&»._ 



THE ISLE OF BACCHUS 




THE ISLE OF BACCHUS 



HE Isle of Bacchus, now better 
known as Richmond's Island, 
and which hes a little way out 
^ to sea from the Scarborough 
shore, is perhaps one of the 
most interesting landmarks 
of the early pioneer ad- 
venturings along the Maine 
coast, for this reason, that it was 
here that one of the earliest 
trading estabhshments was begun, and which may be 
said to date back to the coming hither of George 
Richmon as early as 1620, and whose story is told by 
the Troll of Richmond's Island in an earUer volume 
of this series. So far as Richmon himself is known, 
his history is included in the brief relation which the 
Troll gave me, and of which the reader has become 

175 




176 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

aware, and which perhaps may not be further adverted 
to in this place. 

It is probable that the first European to visit this 
island was Champlain, who came here in 1605, as he 
sailed along the Maine coast with Du Monts, and 
which, according to the memoranda left by Champlain 
of his experiences in that voyage, was endowed with 
a wondrous verdure. Champlain gave the name to 
this island by reason of its luxuriant vineries which 
grew here in wild profusion, and no doubt it appeared 
to him in those early days of the summer of 1605, 
after his bleak experiences at the settlement in the 
St. Croix, as a limited Paradise. According to 
Champlain here was a place which was wonderfully 
endowed by nature with all of the attraction incident 
to a wooded island lying not far from the mainland, 
and which offered a safe harborage and was, so far 
as its physical features were to be considered, not 
only easy of access, but in its low, rolling slopes espe- 
cially adapted to occupation. Champlain undoubtedly 
came here a second time, for he passed on to the 
southward, making a survey of the coast, which 
appears to be verified by his abundant notes, explor- 
ing the mouth of the Saco, an adjacent stream which 
found its outlet at the Winter Harbor of Vines, and 
keeping on, still, to the southward across the mouth 
of the Piscataqua, standing off against the Isles of 
Shoals, until the low reef of Norman's Woe and the 
bald rocks of Cape Ann opened up to him the wide 
expanse of what since the Puritan occupation has been 
known as the Bay of Massachusetts. He undoubtedly 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 177 

continued this voyage farther southward and per- 
haps touched the nose of Cape Cod; for, as such, it 
was designated by the early Norse navigators. It 
was in July of this year, 1605, that he anchored off 
the Isle of Shoals, and it is not improbable that it 
was later in the season, on the return voyage of Du 
Monts toward St. Croix, that a second visit was made 
to the Isle of Bacchus, at which time the grapes of 
which he speaks were just beginning to ripen, and 
which, on account of their abundance, inspired him 
to give this island of perhaps two hundred acres of 
area, the classic name by which it is known to the 
antiquarian. One is interested in the impressions 
which Champlain at that time must have received 
as he came to this beauty spot, one of a multitude of 
others of a similar attractiveness which lay beside 
and across the prow of the ship in which Du Monts 
kept his course toward Cape Cod. For it is true the 
interest which one takes in places of this character 
which have become notable through their early 
associations, historically, is satisfied only as one has 
been able to extract from all available sources the 
information afforded by a diligent research; as if one 
had squeezed the orange dry, so to speak; and not 
the less for this reason, that the atmosphere which 
surrounds the story or tradition incident to the 
particular place is not only of historic incident, but 
of fascinating interest and charming romance. 

It is of interest, therefore, to quote briefly from 
Champlain. He says: 

"As we paffed along the coaft we perceived two 



178 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



columns of fmoke which fome favages made to attract 
our attention. We went and anchored in the direc- 
tion of them behind a finall ifland near the mainland 
where we faw more than eighty favages running 
along the fhore to fee us, dancing and giving way to 
their joy. Sieur de Monts fent two men together 
with our favage to vif it them. After they had f poken 
fome time with them, and affured them of our 
friendfhip, we left with them one of our number, and 




LecLtje 



they deUvered to us one of their companions as a 
hoftage. Meanwhile, Sieur de Monts vifited an 
ifland, which is very beautiful in view of what it 
produces; for, it has fine oaks and nut-trees, the 
foil cleared up, and many vineyards bearing beauti- 
ful grapes in their feafon, which were the firft we had 
feen on all thefe coafts from Cap de la Heve. We 
named it He de Bacchus." 

The small island referred to by Champlain is 
Stratton Island and the place of anchorage was on 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 179 

the north side, and nearly east of Bluff Island, which is 
something hke a quarter of a mile distant. The 
place where the smokes rose from the fire of the sav- 
ages was along the promontory once known as Black 
Point but now as Front's Neck. It was along these 
sands the Indians came dancing in their joyful 
anticipation of an acquaintance with these French 
navigators. Champlain's interpreter was Panounias, 
who came along from the St. Croix. Lescarbot 
describes this Isle de Bacchus as "a great island 
about a half a league in compass at the entrance of 
the wide Bay of Choucoet. It is about a mile long and 
eight hundred yards in its greatest width." The 
Cap de la Heve is the cape of the same name which 
now appears on the coast of Nova Scotia. These 
notices of this once historic island are of the earliest 
importance and for that reason are of especial interest ; 
but the first documentary mention is of "a small 
island, called Richmond" in the grant to Walter 
Bagnall; but Bagnall, before this concession from the 
New England Council had reached him, had paid the 
penalty of his unscrupulous greed. 

It may refresh the recollection, if a brief allusion is 
indulged in at this point in our narrative as to the 
first actual occupation of tliis place for commercial 
purposes. In the previous voyages of one explorer 
and another, glowing tales of the wealth of this wild 
country distinguished the indefinite cognomen of 
Nuova Terra, of which very little was known beyond 
the indentations which marked its rugged coast line. 
It is true that the Bretons had fished off the shores 



180 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

of Newfoundland and had found some considerable 
profit thereby, but it remained to Champlain to give 
impetus to the trade, which, a few years later, laid 
the foundations of the trading posts that found 
isolated lodgment from the Penobscot to the Pis- 
cataqua, of which Monhegan, Richmond's Island, 
Winter Harbor, and Kittery became the most notable. 
George Richmon, who was of EngUsh descent, 
though coming from Bandon-on-the-Bridge, a little 
hamlet on the river Bandon, some twenty miles 
from Cork, impelled by his adventurous disposition, 
found his way thither prior to 1628. Here he en- 
gaged in the fishing business, and it was here he was 
said to have built a vessel, which, if true, would 
afford the first instance of its kind hereabouts, unless 
it had been preceded by the small vessel launched 
about that time at Monhegan. It was in 1628 that 
he relinquished whatever rights he may have had to 
the use and occupation of this island to Walter Bag- 
nail, a man of somewhat unsavory reputation, and 
who by his unjust deahngs wdth the Indians perhaps 
merited liis untoward fate. It is safe to assume that 
Christopher Levett may have been here around 1623, 
as at that time he was spying out the coast with a 
view to erecting a permanent domicile, wliich he, 
afterward in the same year, built upon House Island 
at the mouth of Casco Bay. Bagnall carried on a 
truck trade here with the savages successfully, 
amassing, according to Winthrop, a small fortune for 
those days, of 400£. It is doubtful if Bagnall's trad- 
ing-house was other than a single building of rude 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 181 

construction; but such as it was it sufficed its pur- 
poses. 

Recalling Champlain's description of its fertile 
places, with here and there a copse of deciduous 
growth, its fruity vines and its pleasing aspect, one 
has to stretch the imagination to make out of its 
outlying ribs of rock and wind-swept slopes of slender 
verdure the oasis of the days of the Du Monts expedi- 
tions. After Bagnall's murder the grant from the 
New England Council became inoperative; this grant 
to Bagnall was made December 2 of 1631, and if one 
goes by the records, he had been in this country 
something hke seven years. This grant to Bagnall, 
however, was preceded by the grant to Robert Tre- 
lawny and one Moses Goodyeare, of the adjoining 
mainland by a single day. The rights to Richmond's 
Island are sustained to the Trelawny interest with 
" free libertie to and for the said Robert Trelawny and 
Moyses Goodyeare, their heires, associatts, and 
assignes, to fowle and ffishe, and stages, Kayes, and 
places for taking, saving, and preseruinge of ffishe to 
erect, make, maintaine, and vse in vpon, and neere 
the Ileland Comonly called Richmonds Ileland, and 
all other Ilelands within or neere the limitts and 
bounds aforesaid which are not formerly graunted to 
the said Captaine Thomas Camock as aforesaid. " 

Going back to Bagnall for a moment one has but a 
meager record from which to glean concerning his 
personal history. Winthrop says he was "a wicked 
fellow" (but Winthrop was biased), and "some- 
times servant for one in the bay." He has been 



182 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

associated with notorious Tom Morton, of Merry- 
Mount, and who was such a thorn to Winthrop with 
his May-pole festivities and boon companions. He 
had a ready wit and an incUnation to indulge it in 
satirical verse, which might lead one to qualify 
Winthrop's classification of this man. Mr. Baxter 
suggests in his lucid notes to the Trelawny Papers that 
Bagnall may have been "one of the four men from 
'Weston's Company ' (the Morton fellowship) whom 
Christopher Levett says he left with others, in 1624, 
in charge of his strong house and plantation in this 
vicinity. " Morton was here at Richmond's Island 
during Bagnall's occupation, and it was during this 
visit to his old acquaintance, probably, that he dis- 
covered the whetstones about which he has written 
so extravagantly. It is possible that the grant to 
Bagnall from the New England Council of December 
2, 1631, was procured through Morton's influence, 
then in England, who was a good Episcopahan 
and as well an open friend of Gorges. There is 
little doubt, according to the nature of the times, but 
that Morton and Bagnall were boon companions, 
and had, between them, emptied many a stoup of 
aqua vitse, and as well, under the influence of their 
potations, perpetrated many a quip of rough-set 
pungency upon the staid habits of their common 
enemy, the Puritan. The wit of the times was of 
the rudest character, and which readily found its 
way under the thin skins of the Puritans, to fester, 
with the ultimate result of Morton's final eUmination 
from the Bay Colony. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 183 

In these days this island is shorn utterly of the garb 
of Nature, unless one excepts its sleazily woven 
carpet of wild grasses that is stretched across its 
uneven floor from shore to shore, with here and there 
a streak of gray where the ledges crop out, with the 
shifting sands that have followed the swirl of the gale. 
Along shore, the yellow sands gleam and flash in the 
summer sunshine. The belated plover drops in here 
for a brief rest, but in lesser numbers and with a 
more notable shyness. The sand-peeps teeter up and 
down as if always on the verge of inevitable failure 
to preserve a doubtful balance as they tread the rim 
of the ceaseless surf; and with the gulls, that like 
uneasy spirits haunt the offing, and an intermittent 
flight of ducks, make up the animate in Nature here- 
about. A single thread of smoke spins away from 
a lone chimney to seaward on the winds that scour 
the Scarborough flats, where two centuries ago was a 
settlement of some soHdarity. One sees here in these 
later days a lone dun-roofed farmhouse whose very 
isolateness makes emphatic though silent protest 
against the vandahsm imposed by the needs of man. 

And yet, to one who delights in Nature, pure and 
simple, these wind-harried slopes lack none of the 
exhilaration of the great outdoors for all its lack of 
the nooks, ingles, and copses of sylvan beauty which 
so evidently captivated Champlain. The same gor- 
geous cloud sails, the same turquoise skies, the same 
restless flow of the sea in and out, held apart by the 
same roseate horizon that lights up at dawn or at 
sunset with the eternal fires of the sun, prevail as in 



184 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the days of Champlain. The winds blow in and out, 
catching up by the cap-full the Ufe-sustaining mystery 
of the sea; and now as then the same dripping, 
smothering fogs roll in, to be drunk up by the same 
sun that glanced along the jack-staff of Du Monts. 
These phenomena of Nature are the same now as 
then, while the same hoarse notes of the tides, the 
timekeepers of eternity, beset these low shores as 
when the savages slunk away on that night of Oct. 
3, 1631, sheltered within the midnight gloom, with 
Bagnall lying voiceless, insensate, athwart the floor 
of his trading-house. 

This island hes not far from the mainland with 
which it is connected by a rib of sand, over which 
one may pass at low tide with some degree of con- 
venience. In Bagnall's time the fur of the beaver 
constituted its principal trade. These skins were 
highly prized by the EngUsh and which the Indians 
brought in considerable quantities to exchange for 
"kill-devil" (rum), or such other "truck" as the 
Enghsh found possessed a peculiar temptation to 
the aborigine. Bradford says, September 21, 1621 
(he had just made a visit to the Indians), "We re- 
turned to the shallop, almost all the women accom- 
panying us to truck, who sold their coats from their 
backs, and tied boughs about them, with great 
shamefacedness, for indeed they are more modest 
than some of our English women are." 

The most lucrative trade, however, was carried on 
with the Indians of Narragansett. This tribe was 
a numerous one, and was a tribe of traders. Wood 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



185 



speaks of them as minters of wampum. This wam- 
pum was the currency of the Indian, and he says, 




"They forme out of the inmost wreaths of Peri- 
winkle-shells" this medium of value. ''The North- 



186 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

erne, Easterne, and Westerne Indians fetch all their 
Coyne from these Southerne Mint-masters. From 
hence they have their great stone pipes, which will 
hold a quarter of an ounce of Tobacco. Such is 
their ingenuity & dexterity, that they can immitate 
the English mould so accurately, that, were it not 
for matter and color, it were hard to distinguish 
them; they be nmch desired of our English Tobac- 
conists, for their rarity, strength, handsomenesse, 
and coolnesse." Wood further says that with the 
coming of the English these Indians had devoted 
their energies to gathering furs from the tribes farther 
inland, thereby making of themselves what we term 
in these days of traffic, middle-men. They bought 
these furs for Uttle or nothing, and bringing them 
to the Enghsh they exchanged them for such com- 
modities as they liked best, the more remote tribes 
being entirely ignorant of the final disposition of 
the fur, or to use Wood's language, "so making 
their neighbors' ignorance their enrichment." 

This was the state of affairs at the time of the 
Trelawny Patent and its granting. It was on the 
18th day of January, 1632, that Trelawny and Good- 
yeare executed to John Winter and Thomas Pomeroy 
a power of attorney, " Giving vnto our said Attorneys, 
or one of them, our full and whole power in the prem- 
ises, Ratifying, allowing, and accepting all & what- 
soeuer our said Attorneys, or one of them, shall doe 
in the Premises by fource and Vertue of (these) 
Presents. In witness whereof wee the said Robert 
Trelawny and Moses Goodyeare haue here vnto sett 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 187 

our hands and (seals)." This is the first appearance 
of John Winter of Plymouth, "Marryner," upon the 
stage upon which, for the next thirteen years, was 
to be played the commonplace drama in which the 
greed and desire for personal aggrandizement on the 
part of Winter was to be, perhaps, the single thread 
upon which were to be strung, hke beads, the Hke 
commonplace episodes of traffic that gave to this 
trading-post its local importance. v 

It would seem that Winter's connection with 
Richmond's Island as the representative of Trelawny 
was something in the nature of an accident. It is 
evident from the correspondence between Captain 
Thomas Cammock and Trelawny that the latter was 
incfined to engage in the enterprise of which this 
Richmond Island trading-post was the principal part 
of the venture. Cammock was an EngHshman of 
good connection, and by his relationship to the Earl 
of Warwick was possessed of some influence. Cam- 
mock was to take possession of Richmond's Island 
on Trelawny's account, but as the former came 
ashore from his Engfish voyage, he made a misstep 
on "Mr. Jewell's stage" and had his shoulder put 
out of joint; and it is interesting here to recall this 
George Jewell who hailed from Saco and who was 
drowned in Boston Harbor some five years after 
this event. Folsom says he was returning to his 
ship from a drinking bout on shore, and as they 
rowed away he lost his hat, and " fell into the water 
near the shore where it was not six feet deep and 
could not be recovered." Jewell's Island in Casco 



188 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Bay, which has been connected \vith many tradi- 
tions that have been related of Captain Kidd and 
his buried treasure, once belonged to this George 
Jewell, and has carried his name since that time. 
This accident to Cammock prevented him from 
engaging in the activities which were almost impera- 
tive for the successful management of the Trelawny 
business at Richmond's Island, and that seems to 
have been the reason why the original enterprise 
found in Winter its active commercial exponent. 
So it was Winter who took possession of Richmond's 




RICHMOND'S ISLAND 



Island and received the livery of seizin from Richard 
Vines in that year, 1632. Winter was in Trelawny's 
employ at that time without a doubt, and it was in 
that year, when, before sailing to England to confer 
with Trelawny, Winter served a notice to quit upon 
Cleeve and Tucker at Spurwink. Winter did not 
return until the early part of the following year, and 
it was then, being fully empowered to act in the 
premises, that he succeeded in ousting the Spurwink 
settlers who along in midsummer pitched their dwell- 
ing place at Machegonie. Wliat might have been 
the outcome with Cammock at the Trelawny trading 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 189 

post is conjectural, but the story of Winter has been 
written by himself. 

Winter has been described by Jocelyn, who was 
here at Richmond's Island in September of 1639, 
"where Mr. Trelane kept a fishing," in the suggestive 
words, "A grave and discreet man, employer of 60 
men upon that design," and which one may resolve 
as to their meaning as suits him best. For myself I 
seem to see a man not unaware of his opportunity for 
personal gain, and whose determination to improve 
the opportunity left no time for the indulgence of 
those amenities of countenance which could afford 
much of satisfaction or personal attraction to those 
with whom he came in contact. Whatever had been 
the experience of this man Winter before his entering 
into the employ of Trelawny, one has but little means 
of knowing. Trelawny was a Plymouth merchant. 
It is probable that Winter was in his employ, 
and had made several voyages to this coast prior 
to 1632. Doubtless Trelawny was aware of the 
quahties which are so graphically outlined in the 
simple words used by Jocelyn in his description of 
this man. If one takes the trouble to inform himself 
of the correspondence of Winter during the time he 
acted as Trelawny's agent, and up to the time of 
Winter's death in 1645, one cannot but conclude that 
he was a "good manager of his employer's affairs,. 
exacting from all under him the fulfillment, to the 
letter, of their bonds of service. " And if one follows, 
as well, his Htigious contest with his neighbor George 
Cleeve, who hved at Casco Neck, which occupied 



190 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

most of the years of Winter's living at Richmond's 
Island, he may become convinced as well of the wily 
characteristics with which he seemed to be abundantly 
endowed, and which -certainly do not recommend him 
as a man of tractable temper, to say the least. Here 
were wide lands over which Winter had full control, 
a trading-post, which, according to one annalist of 
the times, had grown from the single cabin and store- 
house of Walter Bagnall into a compact settlement of 
sixty houses, supported by a lucrative trade, con- 
trolled by a man whose scruples toward all others, as 
well as his principal, had succumbed to the single 
desire to enrich himself at the expense of all with 
whom he came in contact. 

In 1634, Winter writes to Trelawny of affairs at 
Richmond's Island, and it is evident that he has a 
desire to return to England. As to this desire Winter 
writes on the eleventh of June to Trelawny, "For I 
haue nother Intent as wt but to Com away in the 
Speedwell." This letter of June is supplemented, 
however, by other letters written to Trelawny later 
in the season and some of which are of more encourag- 
ing character. From these letters one gets an 
insight into Winter's character. He seems to be a 
man of slow, conservative methods, if one goes by 
what he writes his principal; but it is apparent that 
he is making things respond after a profitable fashion, 
which, however, he does not allow himself to betray 
in his reports to Trelawny. Doubtless when Winter 
came here he found an unimproved situation. In 
the prior occupancy of Bagnall, we have nothing to 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 191 

indicate that Bagnall engaged in any agricultural 
pursuits, but it seems that Winter began to plant 
and to sow, and engaged in the rearing of hogs and 
goats at the very inception of his enterprise. In his 
letters to Trelawny he seems to show "poor mouth"; 
or in other words, there is a querulous note of com- 
plaint that the fishing is poor, or that the men are 
unruly and inclined to be idle. In July of this year he 
writes after this fashion: "I haue written you by 
sundry Conveyance how all thinges doth go with vs, 
and by Mr. Pomeroy at large: herin Inclosed I haue 
sent you the bills of ladinge of such goods & money 
as we haue made this yeare. We had bad fishinge 
this sommer; we find the wynter fishinge to be best. 
Mr. Pomeroy hath made a poore voyage; he was 
heare at reasonable tyme, but business hath not gon 
well with them; he arrived heare the second of 
February, but to late for fishinge hear, as the yeares 
do fall out, to make a voyage." 

He seems to take an especial pleasure in throwing 
some shadow of discouragement across the enter- 
prise, and, as if to accentuate all this, he says in this 
same letter, "I haue an Inten, God wilUnge, to Com 
home the next yeare, and so will all our Company 
that Came out with me except 2 of them, which I 
haue agreed with all to stay at the house at the 
maine, to set Corne and looke to our piggs, which I 
hope hearafter will yeld better profite." There is 
another inference to be gathered from this reference 
to the Winter correspondence, which is that John 
Winter did not come here with any definite purpose 



192 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



in connection with the Trelawny interest. Trelawny 
had, wdthout doubt, a good knowledge of Winter's 
character, and regarded him as a capable and reliable 
servant. Winter had no doubt made voyages for 
Trela^vny, and by reason of his prior acquaintance 
had taken charge of the plantation on account of the 
failure of Cammock to act as had been intended in 
his stead. The accident which prevented Cam- 




POND COVE 



mock from engaging in this New World enterprise the 
reader already has knowledge of, and Winter was at 
once installed in his place; but one regrets, having in 
mind Trelawny's final impoverishment, that Cam- 
mock had not been able to carry out the original 
purpose. 

There is no question but what Winter was a valu- 
able man, in many respects, to Trelawny; but one 
can readily gather that the former, once well estab- 
lished as the chief factor at Richmond's Island, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 193 

would be very slow in yielding up his foothold to 
another. As one reads Winter's letters, so carefully 
collected by Mr. Baxter, one is compelled to acknowl- 
edge Winter's shrewdness in his tempering of these 
complaints and suggestions of possible failure, with 
hopes of more profitable returns. He says in his 
August letter of 1634, "I do not se any seed that 
we sow heare but proues very well & brings good in 
Crease, & Cattell, gootes, & hedges proues very well 
in every wheare in the Country," which speaks well 
of the fertility of the soil. In the letter of the fol- 
lowing month he makes another allusion: "There 
is nothenge that we set or sow but doth proue very 
well: we haue proved divers sortes, as barley, pease, 
pumkins, Carrotts, pasnypes, onnyons, garlicke, 
Raddishes, turneups, Cabbage, latyce, parslay, mil- 
lions, and I thinke so will other sortes of hearbes yf 
the be sett or so wen." But in the same letter there 
is a note of discouragement which seems to be put 
in by the way of a balance to keep these high pros- 
pects down to the level of even less than a moderate 
success. He says: "For the tradinge with the 
Indians I am almost weary of yt, for I sent out a 
boote 3 tymes & hath goot nothinge; the trade with 
the Indians is worth little except be with them that 
dwelleth in the Rivers amonge them; the bootes 
that do Constantly follow the trade do fall back- 
wards & ar hardly able to pay for any goods before 
they haue goods to get the bever, and we must be 
faine to trust them with goods, yf we meane to put 
yt away & receaue bever for yt; when the haue goot 



194 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

yt, goods doth pas at Reasonable Rates at the Eng- 
lish, yf the price of bever do hold vpe, or else yt will 
be bad, for heare with vs theris no other payment 
for goods but bever." It is interesting to note the 
art with which he introduces these suggestions, as if 
to moderate any anticipations of any considerable 
profits. The year later, in 1635, he writes Trelawny: 
"The fishing this last winter In January, February, 
& March, was Indifferent good fishinge. The 10th 
of February last we had a lost of 3 mens hues In 
their boote to sea: havinge a freat of Cold frosty 
weather, the bearinge a saile to recover home filled 
their boot that they Could not free herr againe that 
they dyed with the Cold; for the next day after we 
found the boote ridinge to an anker full of water, 
& the bootes maister & mydshipman dead in her, 
but what became of the foreshipman we did never 
yet know. Then I put 3 youthes to sea againe, but 
did me but httle good, for the best of them was but 
a foreshipman; the weare but bad fishermen for the 
Carriage of a boote." 

Perhaps what seems to the reader to be a method 
was nothing more than the natural desire on the part 
of an honest man to keep his principal well informed 
of the difficulties under which the enterprise was 
being conducted, and probably the best criterion of 
Winter's success would be a reference to his balance 
sheet. He goes on in this same letter to say that he 
has good hope for the land business if it were stocked 
with cattle and goats. He makes mention that the 
winter preceding had been a hard one for " swyne, " 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 195 

and rates his loss "betwixt 50 or 60 pigs, younge & 
old, & we had 90 or ther about that did Hue all the 
winter, though somewhat Chargable, but yet of 
them you shall find good profitt hereafter." In 
1634, he had completed his buildings. At his com- 
ing he must have found an island barren of shelter, 
as Bagnall's trading-house was burned by the Indians 
after they had wreaked their vengeance upon that 
dishonest trader, and undoubtedly the first serious 
work of Winter was to provide shelter for himself 




BOADEN'S POINT, MOUTH SPURWINK RIVER 

and the men who came over with him. He gives a 
description of this first house. He says: "I haue 
built a house heare at Richmon Hand that is 40 
foote in length & 18 foot broad within the sides, 
besides the Chimnay, & the Chimnay is large with an 
oven in each end of him, & he is so large that we Can 
place our Chittle within the Clavell pece. We Can 
brew & bake and boyle our Cyttell all at once in him 
with the helpe of another house that I haue built 
vnder the side of our house, where we set our Ceves 
& mill & morter In to breake our Corne & malt & to 
dres our meall in, & I haue 2 Chambers in him, and 



196 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

all our men lies in on of them, & every man hath his 
Close horded Cabbin: and I haue Rome Inough to 
make a dozen Close horded Cabbins more, yf I haue 
need of them, & in the other Chamber I haue Rome 
Inough to put the shipe sailes into and all our dry 
goods which is in Caske, and I haue a store house in 
him that will hold 18 or 20 tonnes of Caske Under- 
neath: & vnderneath I haue a Citchin for our men to 
eat and drinke in, & a steward Rome that will hold 
2 tonnes of Caske which we put our bread & beare 
into, and every one of these romes ar Close with 
loockes & keyes vnto them. " This house was built 
on the island, for he goes on in the same letter to say : 
"At the maine we haue built no house, but our men 
Hues in the house that the old Cleues built, but that 
we haue fitted him som what better, and we haue 
built a house for our pigs. We haue paled into the 
maine a pece of ground Close to the house for to set 
Corne in, about 4 or 5 akers as near as we Can Judge, 
with pales of 6 fote heigh, except the pales that the 
old Cleues did set vp, which is but 4 foote & i ; he had 
paled of yt about an aker & \ before we Came their, 
& now yt is all sett with Corne and pumkins:" and 
one notes his reference to George Cleeve, who a year 
before had, with Tucker, departed for Casco Neck to 
the eastward. This reference to Cleeve as "old 
Cleues" throws a strong light upon the character of 
Winter, and indicates emphatically the animosity 
which had been aroused between these two men who 
in the folloAving years were to supply the local 
courts with more or less litigation. This one expres- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 197 

sion prepares one for much that occurred in the after 
career of this man who had more or less trouble with 
his servants, who were always leaving him. One does 
not require an over-hvely imagination to conjure up 
this "grave and discreet man" overseeing his em- 
ployees with the cold scrutiny of an exacting task- 
master, whose common trait was that of a thrift 
which was augmented by constant jealousy, and, in 
some cases, open meanness. In his letters he com- 
plains that his neighbors undersell him and that 
they will not combine with him to keep the price of 
beaver down, and the prices of such commodities as 
he has for sale, up. We find him measuring the 
contents of his ''hodgsheads of aqua vitae" by 
inches. His men fail to keep their engagements with 
him, and he seems always to be in trouble with 
somebody. Had Cammock taken charge of Tre- 
lawny's enterprise instead of this man Winter, the 
story of the early settlement of Casco Bay would 
have undoubtedly furnished a different reading; for, 
doubtless, Cammock would have allowed Cleeve and 
Tucker to remain at Spurwink, as would almost any 
other fair-minded man, having regard to them as an 
advantage rather than a hindrance to the projects 
of Trelawny. This may be inferred from Cammock's 
subsequent relations with Cleeve, which seem to be 
of a friendly character, especially after the advent of 
Mitton, who, as a lover of the gun and rod, found a 
pleasant companionship with Cammock. Winter's 
evident disposition was to clear the domain included 
in the Trelawny grant of all who might possibly 



198 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

interfere with his projects, which resulted finally in 
the absorption of liis master's interest. And then 
again it was on the mainland, and probably the same 
improved by Cleeve, that the most suitable spot for 
planting was found, and it was doubtless here that 
Winter carried on his agricultural pursuits. The 
country hereabout was practically unoccupied before 
the coming of Richard Bradshaw. Winter came 
over here in 1630, with his wife and daughter, and 
this was in the lifetime and occupancy of Richmond's 
Island by Bagnall. Winter evidently found the 
immediate country attractive, and here he remained 
in the immediate vicinity until he went to England 
to confer with Trelawny in regard to the Richmond 
Island enterprise. Richard Bradshaw had, before 
Winter's coming, made an exploring voyage to New 
England, and had obtained a grant of land here 
which was described as lying on the " Pashippscot. " 
His delivery of land, however, was taken on the east 
shore of the Spurwink, and immediately opposite 
Richmond's Island. This delivery by "turf and 
twig" was made to Bradshaw by Neal, who had been 
sent over by Gorges and Mason in the spring of the 
year of Winter's coming, as governor of the Piscat- 
aqua colonists, who were to make their settlement at 
the mouth of the Piscataqua River. There is no 
question but what this delivery of seizin by Neal to 
Bradshaw was regarded as a perfectly valid title to 
the land; for, in fact, whatever of territory in New 
England was held by one individual or another was 
obtained in this way; and, outside of the Bradshaw 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 199 

title, the validity of these holdings were unquestioned. 
So far as the geography of this section is concerned 
it was practically an unknown country, and grants, 
were taken, here and there, where they did not 
interfere with each other; nor, was even this observed 
where the conditions could be safely ignored, as is 
well indicated by the occupation of John Stratton and 
others of adjacent territory. Bradshaw considered 
his title sufficient, and it should have been so re- 
garded by Winter, as both received their title from 
the same source. It is about this time that Rich- 
ard Tucker came, to whom Bradshaw sold his grant. 
Tucker formed a copartnership with George Cleeve. 
Tucker had acquired his right by purchase, while 
Cleeve took up adjoining land under the Crown 
promise of a grant of land to be selected by himself. 
These two men "joined" their interest and they 
used the word "right," each supposing his occupa- 
tion and his title to be a reinforcement of the other's. 
It was a coveted territory evidently, and these two 
men proceeded at once to build and to enclose 
ground for the raising of crops. It was off a little to 
seaward from the cabins of these two men that 
Richmond's Island lay, and a little west was what 
is known as Stratton Island, just off Black Point, 
and which island still bears nominis umbra, the name 
of its first occupant. Still farther to the westward, 
upon the eastern bank of the Saco River, Bonython 
and Lewis had built their cabins ; while upon the west 
side rose the smokes of the settlement of Richard 
Vines. Over eastward at Menickoe was the home 



200 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

of Alexander Mackworth. This place is now identi- 
fied by the near Mackey's Island. Mackworth called 
this place Newton. Upon House Island was the house 
of Christopher Levett, occupied from time to time 
by the straggling fishermen. 

From the Saco to the Presumpscot, with which 
territory this story is mostly concerned, was an 
unbroken tract of 
wilderness. That 
there were openings 
here and there where 
the grasses and the 
flora common to this 
section grew luxuri- 




MACKWORTH ISLAND 



antly is evident, because it was within these oases of 
verdure that these settlers built their cabins, felling 
the forest about them, and widening out their openings 
from year to year with their ''burns." This country 
was threaded with brawling brooks and more stately 
rivers, which abounded with trout and salmon. It 
was up and down these that these English sportsmen 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 201 

like Thomas Morton and Cammock and Mitton went 
whipping the streams at their leisure, with nothing 
more than a lure of red cloth to fill their creels. 
These woods, as well, were the haunts of game, and 
along the seashore was an abundance of edible fish 
and wild fowl. These men, coming from the old 
world where outdoor sports were the peculiar privi- 
lege of the landed aristocracy, revelled in the freedom 
of these unlimited enjoyments, and it is no wonder 
that, as one ship after another came hither from the 
home country, they should send back to their friends 
such glowing tales as one is reminded of in the works 
of Hakluyt. It was during the summer of 1631 that 
the good ship Plough came over, and they who came 
with it were known as the Company of Husbandmen, 
and who a year before had received a grant from the 
Plymouth Council of a tract of country forty miles 
square, and which was described as lying between 
Cape Porpoise and the Sagadahoc River. Less than 
a dozen men occupied the stretch of shore included 
in this grant, and the arrival of the Plough at this 
time, with its accession of men and women, was a 
matter of much importance from the possibilities 
that their coming suggested. It was the first body 
of emigrants to come over, and here was the oppor- 
tunity for the creation of a new society in which the 
patriotism common to the English people might 
find root, and grow into a body corporate, which 
would enable them to protect themselves in their 
rights and privileges of race and religion; and then, 
there were the interests which would inevitably arise 



202 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

by reason of growing competition and growing pur- 
suits. One can imagine, however, that these original 
settlers were keenly interested in the rights which 
these new colonists were likely to assert under their 
patent. These patents were of value because they 
were issued only to favorites or to those who were 
likely to improve them by actual occupancy; and it 
was this patent that was likely to exert an important 
influence in the land controversies which were inevi- 
tably to occupy the attention of those who were to 
come after them. Bagnall, alive at this time, un- 
doubtedly began to think of his own rights because 
his occupancy of Richmond's Island was fortified by 
nothing better than a squatter's right, and it was 
through Thomas Morton undoubtedly, who was in 
high favor with Gorges at that time, that he suc- 
ceeded in obtaining the patent mentioned by Saints- 
bury. It was on the second of December in this 
year that this island was granted to Bagnall by 
Gorges, and it included fifteen hundred acres on 
the Scarborough mainland. But it is a matter of 
history that when this grant was issued Bagnall had 
passed beyond the necessity of maintaining his rights 
of occupancy, as in the October preceding he had 
been murdered by the Indians, and every vestige of 
his occupancy reduced to a heap of ashes. These 
grants are interesting to recall from the fact that 
the Council made small distinction as to how far one 
grant was likely to interfere with another; for, on 
November first, a month and a day prior to the 
Bagnall grant, another grant had been made to 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 203 

Captain Thomas Cammock, who was a relative of 
Earl Robert of Warwick. Warwick was a member 
of this Council from which these grants were being 
issued, and Cammock had been in their employ. 
Undoubtedly he came over with Neal's company, 
which located on the Piscataqua, and it may be 
readily assumed that he built in that section; but 
exploring the country farther to the eastward, he 
had found a more attractive outlook, and with his 
disposition to enjoy the sports which had un- 
doubtedly in England been the means of affording 
a considerable degree of pleasure, he was peculiarly 
interested in the possibilities for an indulgence of his 
desire by that point of land which runs out into 
the sea opposite Richmond's Island, and which to-day 
is known by its old name of Front's Neck. It was 
here he decided to make his permanent abode. He 
returned to England, and through the influence of 
his uncle, the Earl of Warwick, he obtained a grant 
of Black Point. 

To one who sails up and down the coast even in 
these later days, the dense growths of evergreen, 
which under certain atmospheric conditions make 
a black wall against the lighter verdure inland, were 
a part of Nature's adornment of this territory known 
to these early settlers as Black Point. Below was 
the emerald of the sea, separated from them by 
ribbons of yellow sand or bastions of gray rock; 
and one can imagine the beautiful picture and the 
picturesque characteristics of its wild landscape; and 
it is not difficult to imagine the enthusiasm which 



204 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

such would arouse in the mind of a man of Cam- 
mock's training. It was during this visit home 
that he saw Robert Trelawny at Ham, the Cornwall 
family seat of the Trelawny's, and it is safe to assume 
that this visit of Cammock's lent a deep color to the 
ambitions of Trelawny to found along the Scar- 
borough shores a trading station which should not 
only be a means of profit, but as well an outlet for 
such of the Plymouth people as were inclined to 
better their condition. Cammock's knowledge of the 
country was ample, without any question, and he 
was able to give Trelawny in detail a pleasing de- 
scription of its characteristics ; and it was undoubtedly 
this interview which determined Trelawny, who had 
no doubt been revolving the scheme for some time 
previous, to locate his venture in the territory where 
Cleeve and Tucker had pitched their tents. Gorges 
was a man of his word. He had given his promise 
undoubtedly that this patent of December second 
should be issued to Bagnall, and Gorges, once having 
promised, kept on to the fulfillment of his word. 
It is notable in an examination of the Trelawny and 
Goodyeare patent that while Richmond's Island was 
not included in the same, yet the rights which they 
obtained under it would have practically precluded 
Bagnall, as its occupant, from carrying on any busi- 
ness of profit to himself. It is clear that the intent 
of the Trelawny and Goodyeare patent was to nullify 
every advantage which had been granted to Bagnall, 
and it discloses a finesse in that this Trelawny patent 
was granted a day prior to the one which bore Bag- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 205 

nail's name. The practical effect of this Trelawny 
patent was to cover in to the territory on the main- 
land, Richmond's Island, and it could not be con- 
sidered other than an important adjunct to the 
fifteen hundred acres granted Bagnall on the main- 
land shore. If the fee of Richmond's Island was in 
Bagnall, as it was in truth, it was in a sense so mort- 
gaged as to its emoluments and actual improvements 
to Trelawny that only the latter had the right to 
fowl, fish, and build stages and trading houses and 
wharves necessary to the carrying on of a profitable 
enterprise. An examination of the Trelawny patent 
shows this right to be without limit; and under it, 
every valuable possibility which the island pos- 
sessed was absorbed; and it was perliaps best, as a 
matter of Providential interference, if such it can b6 
called, that Bagnall should have been eliminated 
from the scene of action, as undoubtedly he, being 
the weaker party, would after perhaps more or less 
unpleasant controversy have been compelled to 
retire from the field. 

It is a far cry over the years backward to the 
spring of 1632, and it is difficult for one in these 
times of thickly settled areas, in what was once a 
wide and unbroken wilderness, to ever so faintly 
realize the isolation of those two sole occupants, 
Cleeve and Tucker, of this Spurwink country. No 
doubt then, as now, the snows piled their drifts in 
the wake of the wild storms that, from time to time, 
prevailed along the coast in the winter season, and 
one can look, as it were, with these lone settlers from 



206 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the doors of their cabins out over the wide white 
wastes of the Scarborough marshes, where perhaps 
the only suggestion of hfe was the wild flight of the 
gull, or the startled flapping of wings as some belated 
duck broke cover. As the winter days went, the 
tides surged in and out; the creeks spun their tangled 
yarns of blue athwart the snow-choked marsh grasses, 
and it was only as the December days drew to an 
end that the sun hung a httle longer above the 
horizon. 

After a look outward upon the sea, barren of every 
vestige of sail, turning inward to the blazing fires 
upon their broad and rough-set stone hearths, they 
began anew the discussion anent Winter. Doubtless 
they counted the days, much after the fashion of their 
posterity, to when the first bevy of crows would 
sweep up from the southward, and upon their ears 
would fall the first spring note, the loud haw-haw 
of these newcomers as they circled over the ever- 
greens inland, or scoured the black mud of the flats 
for some stray morsel. And so the days went, and 
the nights, with their silences so deep as to be almost 
audible to the waiting ear. But the sun crept up 
from the south higher yet, and higher, and with it 
came the winds that ate up the snows. Hints of 
green were painted along the brown hillsides, and still 
their look was ever to seaward. 

Winter had sailed away to England two months 
before, but, as has been recorded, not before he had 
served notice upon these alleged interlopers that 
they must go elsewhere; and there is no doubt but 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 207 

what Cleeve and Tucker engaged in many a solicitous 
and curious discussion as to what might be the out- 
come of Winter's interference. Tucker rehed upon 
his title from Bradshaw, and Cleeve upon his occu- 
pancy under the edict of James. Cleeve's title was 
an implied one, he relying upon the proclamation of 
King James, which granted one hundred and fifty 
acres of land to such subject as "should transport 
himself over into this country upon his own charge, 
for himself, and for every person he should so trans- 
port. " But this proclamation was ignored upon the 
creation of the Plymouth Council, which began 
immediately to issue grants covering the territory 
occupied by men whose title was no better than that 
of Cleeve. 

They had garnered the crops of the previous year, 
and enjoyed their substance during Winter's absence; 
but they knew full well that with the coming of the 
spring days this truculent advocate of the Trelawny 
interest would return, for here was a delightful 
country and an attractive, abounding in undeveloped 
possibilities of trade and landed wealth. Its out- 
looks were wide and to the settler limitless, with the 
marshes and the unbroken sea before, and the low 
green islands just offshore, clad, as in the days of 
Champlain, with a luxuriant foliage that, as the buds 
began to burst, lent a new and more vivid coloring 
to the landscape. Behind was the rim of woods, 
dense, unscarred, that widened out, an unexplored 
waste of unshriven verdurous forest, and as in the 
earlier days, meshed with the salt creeks and the tide 



208 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



rivers that were the only feasible highways. Here 
was one a most at their door, the sinuous Spurwink. 
If one had leaned with Cleeve against the rough 
lintels of his cabin door on the morning of the 17th of 
April of this year, 1632, he would have looked out upon 
this untamed landscape, of which even now there is 
some suggestion as one scans the yellow marshes to 
seaward. No doul)t, then as now, in season, the air 
was vibrant with the songs of the northward-flying 
birds, or darkened with the flights of a myriad sea 




BUENA VISTA— SPURWINK RIVER BAR 

fowl. The sun painted upon the sea the same 
inimitable opalescence pictured in the sky above, and 
upon the farthest horizon of the ocean was piled in 
purple folds the diaphanous haze wrought by the 
soft winds from the south. 

One would have seen more, even, than this; for, far 
away, breaking through this purple rim of the sea 
was the glint of a white sail. It is not difficult to 
imagine the thrill of anticipation that answered to 
this discovery; for as these two men watched with 
vague yet hopeful coniecture, this phantom sail 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 209 

loomed into certainty, heading its course straight 
toward the old wharves that marked the occupation 
of Bagnall at Richmond's Island. One can feel 
even the yearning, the hunger for a glimpse of their 
own kind and a bit of news from the home land. 
One hears the rattle of the sails as they slide down 
the masts, and the raucous cries of flie sailors borne 
landward as they make safe anchorage. 

But Cleeve and Tucker had not long to wait, and 
they did not wait; for it is not unUkely that they 
unmoored their own boat and pushing away from 
the yellow sands of the Spurwink lands hastened 
Richmond Island-ward with a greeting of welcome 
to the newcomers. These anticipations, however, 
must have been short lived; for no sooner had they 
reached the island then they found the aggressive 
Winter, who had made the attempt to dispossess them 
of their holdings the year previous. It was John 
Winter, who later with his artisans and his fishermen 
was to build up a trading station on this island which 
afterward became so notable. And at that time they 
learned from Winter that Trelawny's patent was a 
vahd grant, and that it covered the reach of coast 
from Cape EHzabeth to the Spurwink River. If 
Winter's natural disposition was at any time harsh 
or overbearing, it is most likely that those qualities 
prevailed forcefully on this occasion ; for he doubtless 
iterated his demand, and with a rough insistance, on 
Cleeve and Tucker, for them to quit the premises 
which for two years they had had under improvement 
in the immediate neighborhood. 



210 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

It is not unlikely at this time that Winter, appre- 
ciating the usefulness of these two men to his enter- 
prise, invited them to become his servants; but 
having in view Cleeve's subsequent career, one can 
readily conceive Cleeve's attitude toward such a 
proposition. Cleeve was not a man to act in a sub- 
ordinate positioh under any circumstances, having in 
mind the controversy in which he afterward engaged 
with so prominent and influential a man as Richard 
Vines. He had not forgotten, as an Englishman, the 
relations which obtained between master and servant 
in the old country, and he had no reason to doubt but 
the same state of things would prevail in this new 
land, under the direction of a man with whom he had 
already had high words. 

Considering the rough setting of the times, it has 
always seemed strange to me as I have become 
acquainted with their story, that these two men of 
such undoubted energy and virulent personahty 
should have separated without bloodshed. Perhaps 
Cleeve was satisfied to bide his time, trusting to cir- 
cumstances and opportunity to enable him to repay 
Winter with interest for the oppression and the 
injustice which, to Cleeve, seemed to be of the essence 
of Winter's intent. Less than a week after the arrival 
of Winter, another sail broke the horizon. It was 
that of Cammock. Cammock was likewise interviewed 
by Cleeve, but without result. One can imagine the 
thoughts that surged through the minds of Cleeve and 
Tucker as they drove their boat through the surf, 
over the bar and beyond the quiet waters of the Spur- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



211 



wink, to renew in their cabins the discussion of their 
dilemma, which could not be other than disturbing, 
for the reason that every element of uncertainty as 
to the determination of Winter had been removed. 
Cammock no doubt warned Cleeve and Tucker that 
it was useless for them to resist the demands of 
Winter; nor is there any doubt but these demands 
were made after the most offensive fashion, and 
possibly with the intention of arousing the anger of 
these two men into some overt act, whereby they 







HUBBARD'S ROCKS, HIGGIN'S BEACH 



could be more summarily disposed of. They met 
Winter's demand, however, with outward indifference, 
and undoubtedly began the consummation of their 
plans for the season of planting, close at hand. 

Walter Neale at this time was attending to the 
affairs of Gorges and Mason on the Piscataqua, and 
it was to Neale that Winter went for relief. Neale 
was applied to for his official assistance, which was 
at once granted. These alleged squatters were 
served with a formal notice to quit, to which Cleeve 
was still indifferent. Nor was Winter, at that time, 



212 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

as we may well believe, in a way, able to use other 
than "civil process." He was not in a position to 
employ force; for it is evident that his coming to 
Richmond Island at this time was simply to make 
preliminary arrangements for a more permanent 
occupancy and development of the proposed Tre- 
lawny settlement. As it appeared later, his plans 
were to return to England, that he might obtain the 
necessary means and assistance for the ultimate 
development of the Trelawny interests. 

At this time there was at Casco the house which 
Levett built, in 1623, and he found there three men, 
John Badiver and Thomas and Andrew Alger. 
^Yhen Levett left House Island in 1624, he says he 
left "ten men" in charge of his house. There is no 
doubt but these three men were of that party; so 
it came about that after securing their assistance 
and leaving them in charge of his affairs at Richmond 
Island, he again set sail for England in July, and 
Cleeve and Tucker were left undisturbed to harvest 
the crops which they had that year planted on the 
uplands along the Spurwink marshes. Cleeve and 
Tucker knew this respite was to be but brief, and 
that they would be obhged to enter into his service 
or to leave their cabins. They wanted no part of 
Winter or his oversight, so they began their explora- 
tions eastward, where they might begin anew the 
building of their home. 

A half score of miles to the eastward was a wide 
and well-sheltered bay, the region about which was 
known to the Indians as Aucocisco, which, later 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 213 

tripping from the English tongue, became perverted 
into Kasko. It was here on a well-timbered neck of 
land of sightly elevation that these men in 1633 
drove their stakes and set up their log cabins. 

John Winter arrived at Richmond's Island on his 
return from this last voyage to England, March 2, 
1633, and with his return began the immediate 
migration eastward of these two Spurwink adven- 
turers whose story has been heretofore merged into 
the Romance of Casco Bay. Winter was left in 
sole possession of the Spurwink lands, a possession 
not without its anxieties. He writes Trelawny that 
ships from Barnstable, England, had been at Rich- 
mond's Island in his absence, the crews of which 
having little regard for the proprietary rights of 
Trelawny or the objections of Badiver and the 
Algers, had used his stages for drying fish, and com- 
mitted other mild trespasses. Along with that, he 
expresses fears of a marauder who had been sailing 
up and down the coast eastward, robbing the settlers. 
He wrote Trelawny for weapons of defense, and at 
once set about the work of fortifying the island with 
the ordnance and the muskets brought over shortly 
after on one of the Trelawny vessels. Such was his 
zeal in these preparations, and the readiness with 
which Trelawny responded, that in a year's time he 
was able to protect himself from ordinary assault. 
This was in 1633, and no sooner had Cleeve and 
Tucker vacated their cabins on the bank of the 
Spurwink than Winter entered into their immediate 
occupancy. 



214 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



Winter died in 1645. The years intervening were 
busy years for him. They were years of episode, 
and at the time of Winter's death this fishing station 
had become notable for its products of fish and furs, 
and its lucrative trade. It became a port of import- 
ance. According to an annahst of the times, its 
harbor was frequently thronged with vessels from 
England and elsewhere, bound hither on various 








POODUCK SHORE 



enterprises. Some came to fish; some with mer- 
chandise from Spain; some on voyages for beaver 
and the furs common to the section, and to trade 
with the settlers and the savages who frequented the 
coast. 

Wines from Spain, strong liquors from the West 
Indies, formed a staple of exchange, and they were 
paid for mainly with the harvest of the sea. Many 
of these ships brought cargoes of rum, which were 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 215 

not only disposed of among the savages, who had 
become accustomed to its use, but as well the fisher- 
men, who, coming in with their fares, entered upon a 
debauch which not only wasted their wages but got 
them into debt. 

Some of these vessels which came laden with 
cargoes of rum and aqua vitse were singularly yclept. 
Here was the "Holy Ghost"; farther out in the 
channel was anchored the "Angel Gabriel," and 
between the two was the "White Angel, of Bristol," 
a trio surrounded by sister ships of hke strange and 
inapphcable nomenclature. Perhaps this was not so 
singular, for the age was about to merge into the 
Cromwelhan period, when Biblical names were 
affected by Dissenter and Roundhead ahke, and 
piety was more frequently expressed in speech than 
exemplified in the actions of men. 

To quote Jocelyn, who writes of the Indians: 
"Their drink they fetch from the Spring and they 
were not acquainted with other until the French 
and English traded with that cussed liquor Called 
Rum, Rum-bullion, or kill-devil. . . . Thus instead of 
bringing of them to the knowledge of Christianitie, 
we have taught them to commit the beastly and 
crying sins of our Nation for a Httle profirt." He 
says in his Nova Britannia: "They have no law but 
nature. They are generally very loving and gentle." 
Winter drove a thriving trade in this commodity. 

Winter had his wife along with him, and his 
daughter Sarah, and from his letters we glean the 
size of shoes the latter wore, which were number 



216 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

eight, and also the color of her petticoats, which were 
of a brilliant scarlet. 

These Winters, husband and wife, were of sordid 
clay, a well-matched couple, w^ho threw to others 
cheese parings, as an indifferent master brushes the 
crumbs from his table for his dogs and cats. He 
levied taxes, and woe betide that one who failed in 
his rents or labor. Even the minister was mulcted 
of his scant stipend. A letter of Richard Gibson to 
Trelawny throws some light upon this disposition. 
It seems that Winter exacted rent of the parson, 
who writes Trelawny : " Never minister paid rent in 
thes Land before mee, but have houses built for 
them & the Inheritance given them withall. I haue 
spoke to Mr. Winter of it but he hath not had leasure 
to do anything yett: I feare he will not sett mee out 
such land as will be Comodious for my vse." This 
strain of meanness, which seems to be suggested in 
this letter, was as well shown to his servants in his 
employ. Winter pressed them hard at times, and 
many of them left him in the middle of their con- 
tracts, and some of them brought suits against him 
to recover their wages. 

He was greedy; for in 1640, in June, Winter was 
presented by the grand jury on the complaint of 
Thomas Wise, of Casco, for exorbitant charges. In 
addition to this complaint there were three others 
of a similar character, one of which was made by 
Richard Tucker. This was at the first court held 
under the new order of things established by Gorges, 
who had an idea of personally assuming the jurisdic- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 217 

tion over his province in Maine. We know that 
previous to this he had had built a mansion at Gor- 
geana, to which he never came. 

But Cleeve was a thorn continually in the side of 
Winter. Winter made a visit to England about 1636, 
and he left one Hawkins in charge of the plantation. 
The pigs and the goats were depleted from one 
cause and another, and he says in another letter: 
" Some the Indians have killed and the wolves have 
killed some other, but how it is I know not." It is 
upon this foundation, according to Baxter, that 
Trelawny charges Cleeve with inciting the Indians 
to destroy his cattle. If the truth were known, 
perhaps it was due to the indifference and the negh- 
gence of the servants of Winter, who took that way 
to account for their o\\7i negligence. It is a side 
light, however, which shows the disposition on 
Winter's part to accuse Cleeve of a malicious and 
mischief-breeding disposition. There is no doubt 
but Cleeve felt some secret gratification whenever 
disaster befell the enterprises of his enemy; for each 
was avowedly and openly the contemner of the other ; 
and perhaps this is a natural feehng between these 
two rivals for local influence and aggrandizement. 
Neither was the man to yield to the other. 

Winter's wife seems to be off the same piece with 
Winter himself as to her shrewish thrift, for Winter 
writes Trelawny in July of 1639 : " You also write me 
that you ar informed that my wyfe will giue the men 
no mylke. Yt may be that she will not giue every 
on mylke as often as they Com for yt, but I know that 



218 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

all the Company haue mylke 4, 5, & 6 meales in a 
week, boyled with flower, which som of them haue 
Complained haue had mylke to often. ... & whereas 
you say the Complaine the would be better weare yt 
not for my 'wjie, I answer for this also I do not 
gaine say yt, but yt may be shee will speake shrood 
words to som of them somtymes, for I know som of 
them haue Com for their bread when the haue had 
yt befor, which doth make her out of passion with 
them. She hath an vnthankefuU office to do this 
she doth, for I thinke their was never that stew^vard 
yt amonge such people as we haue Could giue them 
all Content. " 

Complaints were made against Winter's wife as 
well, that she beat the maid. Winter expresses 
himself to Trelawny, and perhaps Winter's relation 
of this matter will be as interesting in the original 
as otherwise. "You write me of som yll reports is 
given of my Wyfe for beatinge the maid; yf a faire 
way will not do yt, beatinge must, somtimes, vppon 
such Idlle girrells as she is. Yf you thinke yt fitt 
for my wyfe to do all the worke & the maid sitt 
still, she must forbeare her hands to strike, for then 
the worke will ly vndonn. She hath been now 2 
yeares ^ in the house, & I do not thinke she hath 
risen 20 times before my Wyfe hath bin vp to Call 
her, & many tymes hght the fire before she Comes 
out of her bed. She hath twize gon a mechinge in 
the woodes, which we haue bin faine to send all our 
Company to seeke. We Cann hardly keep her within 
doores after we ar gonn to beed, except we Carry the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 219 

kay of the doore to bed with vs. She never Could 
melke Cow nor goat since she Came hither. Our 
men do not desire to haue her boyle the kittell for 
them she is so sluttish. She Cannot be trusted to 
serue a few piggs, but my wyfe most Commonly must 
be with her. She hath written home, I heare, that 
she was faine to ly vppon goates skins. She might 
take som goates skins to ly in her bedd, but not given 
to her for her lodginge. For a yeare & quarter or 
more she lay with my daughter vppon a good feather 
bed before my daughter beinge lacke 3 or 4 dales 
to Sacco, the maid goes into beed with her Cloth & 
stokins, & would not take the paines to plucke of her 
Cloths: her bedd after was a doust bed & she had 2 
Coverletts to ly on her, but sheets she had none after 
that tyme she was found to be so sluttish. Her 
beating that she hath had hathnever hurt her body 
nor Hmes. She is so fat & soggy she Cann hardly do 
any worke. " 

Quoting from Winter in another place, he says: 
"Whereas you say the men Complaine she hath 
pincht them of their allowance. I spoke of yt in 
the Church afore all our owne Companie and Mr. 
Kingston & his Company what answere the gaue for 
that foull abuse giuen here . . . but it may be shee 
will speake shrood" (sharp and censorious) "words 
to som of them somtymes. " 

What a quaintly humorous revelation ! 

As for the tragedies of the island there seems to 
have been one after the slaying of Bagnall, and that 
was the drowning of the maid Tomson, and we will 



220 



THE SOKOKl TRAIL 



let Winter tell her story. "The maid Tomson had 
a hard fortune. Yt was her Chance to be drowned 
Cominge over the barr after our Cowes, & very little 
water on the barr, not aboue h foote, & we Cannot 
Judge how yt should be, accept that her hatt did 
blow from her head, & she to saue her hatt stept on 








CAPE ELIZABETH'S OLDEST CHURCH 



the side of the barr. A great many of our Company 
saw when she was drowned, & run with all speed to 
saue her, but she was dead before the Could Com to 
her. I thinke yf she had hved she would haue 
proved a good servant in the house: she would do 
more worke than 3 such maides as Pryssylla is. " 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 221 

This Pryssylla, from Winter's description, was 
evidently not of the Mullens stock. 

It was in these early days at Richmond's Island 
that hither came Richard Gibson, the first Episcopal 
minister, who doubtless came over with Winter on 
his last voyage to England, and who preached at 
the solicitation of Vines, both at Saco, or the rather 
at Winter Harbor and at Richmond Island. But 
Winter could not get on with the parson, as is evi- 
denced by the Reverend Gibson's letter to Trelawny. 
It is said that this spiritual teacher did not seem to 
be properly considerate of the charms of the fair 
Sarah, for whom it seems Winter had ambitions. 
It was a case of leading the horse to drink when the 
animal was not thirsty, else he had already been more 
readily affected by the charms of dainty Mary Lewis, 
the daughter of Bonython's partner on the east 
banks of the sinuous Saco, and whom he shortly after 
married. There is no doubt but Mary made as good 
a spouse as would have been the fair Sarah, while 
the former, to the preacher, was infinitely more 
preferable. 

It was a time when scandal was rife, when the 
virtue of a woman was held somewhat lightly; but 
although some unpleasant things were said of the 
Mary Lewis as a maid, Richard Gibson was satis- 
fied with his choice, and as well satisfied to let the 
world wag its myriad tongue as it would. It was not 
long after this he left Saco for Portsmouth, where 
he soon got into controversy wdth Winthrop over 
church matters, which resulted in his imprisonment 



222 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

for a brief period; for the Massachusetts Colony 
brooked no disrespect to its governmental institu- 
tions. It was not long after that Gibson left the 
country, and his subsequent history is somewhat 
involved in obscurity. 

Under Winter's thrifty administration this lonely 
island in the edge of the sea was transformed into a 
populous community, and a church was built here 
in which Robert Jordan officiated, following close 
upon the spiritual ministrations of Gibson, whose 
indifference to the charais and evident willingness 
to be wooed of naive Sarah so effectually aroused 
the ire of this paternal matchmaker, as if Mrs. 
Winter might not have better succeeded at so deli- 
cate a task. From what happened shortly after, it 
may be assumed that the fair Sarah, as she sat de- 
murely attentive to the homilies of Robert Jordan, 
who in those days was young and vigorous, when the 
years sat lightly upon his shoulders, was not with- 
out her share of fascination and seductive mystery; 
for the young minister doubtless readily discovered 
the way of the wind, and availed himself of its gentle 
offices, and made port safely. It was not long after 
that Sarah Winter became the head of the Richmond 
Island parish, from the feminine point of view, and 
from her sprung the long fine of Jordans, — a pro- 
lific and honorable descent. 

Robert Jordan may be regarded as the first per- 
manently settled clergyman hereabout, and, as such, 
a glimpse at the man may not be uninteresting. He 
was an Oxford University man, being identified with 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 223 

Baliol, 1632. It seems that Robert Jordan and 
Thomas Purchase were of kin. Jordan was born in 
EngUsh Worcester, and, Baxter says, "of plebeian 
rank." He was matriculated at nineteen years of 
age, and Winter says he came to New England in 
1639. He found the tide of affairs at Winter's trad- 
ing post at their flood, and it seems that he was of 
sufficient shrewdness to take advantage of his oppor- 
tunity. His alliance with the daughter of Winter 

p^ *v^ ?ij€ rf^ ^ iA-^-^ 

AUTOGRAPHS OF JOHN WINTER AND ROBERT JORDAN 

was a master stroke; for hardly more than a half 
decade of years later he had assimilated the extensive 
interests of Trelawny here, to become a man of 
landed wealth, as the times went, and of no incon- 
siderable influence. Bred in the Church of England, 
he had undoubtedly won his pulpit spurs in the home 
country, and once on tliis side, he had unhesitat- 
ingly thrust his feet into the old shoes of Gibson, 
which he found not at all irksome, taking up his 
church work with a ready acquiescence to conditions, 



224 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

and which he no doubt prosecuted with the virihty of 
a robust physique fortified with an ample courage. 
He was a man of brilhant parts, of a ready wit, of 
evident tact, and not averse to labor amid a rough- 
set and uncouth people. He found the wind blowing 
in his face the greater part of the time, and the soil, 
while not wholly unregenerate to the .spiritual dogma 
for which he stood, was of an unkindly and sour 
disposition. Plant as he would, Apollo failed to 
water or God to give much increase. He found him- 
self constantly face to face with the sour-visaged Pur- 
itanism of the Winthrop hallmark; and Mr. Baxter 
says in a footnote to the Trelawny Papers, "dis- 
couraged by opposition, and the word within him per- 
haps becoming ' choked by the deceitfulness of riches,' 
he finally gave up the ministry and devoted himself 
to his private affairs." 
^/ ' He was a man who knew how to care for his own, 
for he httle brooked interference with his affairs or 
his property, and here and there among the court 
records of the times he appears as a frequent party 
to the quarrels over boundary fines and personal 
rights as a plaintiff or defendant. If one makes 
close scrutiny into the character of some of these 
litigious proceedings, Jordan, for now one has to 
forego the clerical dignity by which he was first and 
best known, does not shine with an untarnished bril- 
liance. There is a mist across the face of the mirror 
that resolves itself into the hieroglyphic of a selfish 
and even mercenary character. His letter to Tre- 
lawny, having regard to the acrid fitigation pending 



^ THE SOKOKI TRAIL 225 

between Winter and Cleeve over the title to Casco 
Neck, and to which Trelawney never had even a 
shadow of right, is a notable lapse from the integrity 
generally accorded him. He was an influential man 
in the Province, a man of parts. Had he remained 
in England, he doubtless would have taken high rank 
among the Church of England divines. It was with 
a determined persistence that, despite the strictures 
of Winthrop, and the Bay government, he adhered 
to the High Church forms and ceremonies, and his 
christening font is to this day exhibited by the 
curator of the Maine Historical Collections with sin- 
cere feelings of local pride and antiquarian interest 
and sympathy. Upon the breaking out of the Indian 
disturbances of 1676 Jordan retired to Portsmouth, 
on the Piscataqua, where, in 1679, he closed an 
active and, for those days, notable career, — a career 
that was crowded with episode. The broad areas of 
Cape Elizabeth best represent the ancient plantation 
of this man and the scenes of his traditional activi- 
ties, and, where, as well, may be found numerous of 
his descendants to-day, among whom the writer may 
be counted, who is but one remove from the direct 
line. 

The story of this man is the history of his times. 
Little there was in this section in which his hand was 
not to some degree felt, whether or not it was appre- 
ciated. As interesting as it might be to recall some 
of them, this story is essentially that of another. 

About the time of Robert Jordan's coming there 
was in the family of Winter a maid whose charms 



226 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

were not less seductive than those of the lissome 
Sarah, — the fair-haired Wilmot Randall, in whose 
mischievous eyes was the purple of the Enghsh violet 
and upon whose cheeks was the bloom of the EngUsh 
rose, and in whose rounded hues were concealed the 
suggestive and delicious mystery of girlhood merg- 
ing into the perfections of a youthful and lovely 
womanhood. This English flower came over in 
Winter's little ship, and in Robert Jordan's company, 
and it is somewhat singular that Jordan should have 




■jr^di:^^. 






SITE OF BOADEN'S HOUSE, SPURWINK FERRY 

escaped the glamour of her beauty. It is evident 
that Cupid had otherwise decreed. Once at Rich- 
mond's Island she bound herself out to Winter as a 
maid servant for a term, which was later to be sum- 
marily terminated. 

Here was a motley community, the like of which 
could not exist anywhere in the New England of 
to-day. As one wanders over the treeless area of this 
historic island in these later days, one falls to dream- 
ing strange and unfamiliar dreams. One shuts one's 
eyes, and across the opaque disk of the retina come 
and go unfamihar figures in unfamiliar garb. Un- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 227 

familiar voices fall upon one's ears, and one is fol- 
lowing after, up and down byways and footpaths 
long since obliterated, that Uke the cow lanes of old 
Boston seem to lead everywhere, yet, after all, to 
nowhere in particular. It is a bit of old England in 
miniature, — a little fishing port in whose activities 
all take humble part according to their several abili- 
ties and inclinations, with this man Winter, Selkirklike, 
overseeing and directing with a cool and calculat- 
ing method their energies; watchful and jealous 
visaged, with a hawklike alertness moving about his 
diminutive empire, dropping here and there a trucu- 
lent word of reminder or caustic reproof. Up and 
down these byways are pitched the dwelling places 
of these strange people, with their faces bent always 
outward to the sea, as if the wide-open spaces of the 
limitless horizon, the sea and sky, were the more 
cheerful outlook. The real reason of this looking 
always away from the land may have been the attrac- 
tion which a southern exposure invariably commands 
with its light and warmth as the winter days nar- 
row to a standstill in mid-December. As one goes 
through the older coast towns one sees the same order 
of things to-day, especially in old Kittery farther to 
the southward along the Maine shore. 

I note that these cabins are scattered from one 
end of the island to the other, unless in close prox- 
imity to the storehouses they huddle somewhat, 
as if a sense of security compelled a closer com- 
panionsliip. There was no lack of elbowroom, and 
this settlement naturally extended to the uplands 



228 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

along the Spurwink. where were arable lands, where, 
according to Winter, one needed but to drop the 
seed to get abundant return. Xei^borliness in 
those far days was cheri^ed as now, dififeiing only 
in degree. — a difference which in these matter-of- 
fact days would hardly score on the side of that 
hospitality that leaves the bobbin out for even the 
stranger to puU: for those were the borrowing days, 
neighK^r from neighbor, from the ruddy coals upon 
a jealously tended hearth to the rude tools that 
made existence posable. and eviai to the coveted 
contents of the old pine meal-chest that hugged the 
rough waU of even* cabin kitchen. 

One would give much to be able to find even a 
single bypath over which these men of the old days 
went and beside which the chUdien plucked the wUd 
flowers as they dallied on their errands. One would 
like to know where the siUs of Robert Jordan's church 
were laid. In fact, what would one not like to know 
of the incomings and outgoings of that far period? 
One knows these bypaths were crooked enough, but 
whether they were originally laid out by the cows or 
the roysterers, who night after night made merry 
in Winter's taproom over their stoups of rum. to 
afterward write the storv of their homesoins in as 
many zigzag lines of indecipherable hieroglyphic 
across: lots or in the loose soil of an adjacent garden 
of the old-fashioned sort, is wholly a matter of 
conjecture. But those old gardens of the old-fash- 
ioned Enghsh sort, there must have been some hene: 
for wherever the wholesome English lasts pitched 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 229 

her fortunes, there sprung up imder her dainty tread 
the tall spikes of the hollyhock, the sweet-scented 
mints, the thpne, and the pungent sage. 

Picturesque and beautiful must have been the 
breaking of the smimier dawn upon this Isle of 
Bacchus, ^^'ith its clustered roofs that nestled cosily 
along the dew-wet slopes, while sk^-^vard twirled 
through the stagnant air as many savory house 
smokes, to as slowly blend into the visible ether, the 
incense from as many hidden altars, where burned 
\Wth wavering strength and weakness the fii-es of a 
crude civihzation, fed ^^ith the same hopes and 
fears and passions that beautify or disfigm-e the 
domestic li\'ing of these later days when social con- 
ditions are more intelligent and more exacting. 
The days of the flax-wheel were yet to come, albeit 
the Puritan lasses of Boston were becoming diU- 
gently attendant upon the first spinning school, and 
out of the acquirements of wliich subtile -^^izardry 
was to come the old-fashioned loom to become a part 
of the eternal foundation of that thriftiness and 
frugahty that aptly led the characteristics of the 
old-fasliioned Xew England woman, the old-fashioned 
and beautiful Priscillas. Of a truth, however, 
Priscilla ^lullens, of the tradition of John .\lden's 
wooing, had not as then mastered the trick of t^^^st- 
ing John's heart strings into the maze of tawny 
fibers that shortly afterward, not unlikely, grew 
under her dainty fingers into the ghstening webs 
that were left athwart the green to rot and bleach 
in the smnmer davs of mingled sun and rain. 



230 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Of all these old-time happenings at Richmond's 
Island, not a foot-print is to be seen along its yellow 
sands. There is not a stain of umber in the moist 
soil to show where some old threshold had rotted 
away, or where it might have held apart the hos- 
pitable lintel. The winds bring no sensing of the 
pungent smokes of its once rude chimneys, from the 
ragged tops of which once on a time those self- 
same winds spun the romance of the Fire Spirit in 
whose sinuous yieldings was hidden the Spirit of the 
Woodland that once owned to all the blandishments 
of untamed Nature to charm the eye of a Champlain. 

There is little to suggest the enterprise of which 
Winter was the head, or the Algers, John Levett, or 
John Burrage, all of patriarchal fame, and who 
have left a notable posterity. 

Among these was young Nicholas Edgecomb, of 
kinship with the famous EngUsh family of the name. 
It was this young Edgecomb who was to tinge the 
cheeks of the lovely Wilmot Randall with a ruddier 
hue. Cupid sent his shaft to its mark at the first 
bend of his bow. What a dehcious bit of romance, 
could one get at even its ravellings to pull out here 
and there a thread! Winter promptly frowned upon 
the advances of the amorously incUned Edgecomb, 
and in this he was promptly abetted by his re- 
sourceful spouse, who possibly had left her own 
romance back in Old England in the garret, as one 
of the "worn outs" to be discarded. Mrs. Winter 
was, evidently, of a shrewish disposition, and one can 
imagine the espionage, the jealous, duenna-like 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 231 

predacity that fell to the lot of this, to young Edge- 
comb, charming girl. Plead as he would, Edgecomb 
was unable to obtain a release of the bond maid, so 
he purchased her freedom outright, after which the 
course of their wooing undoubtedly went with that 
smoothness that he carried off his treasure trium- 
phantly; and, once at the Saco settlement, between 
them they laid the foundation of a numerous Edge- 
comb family, with here and there another Nicholas 
and a fairer and sweeter Wilmot, if such were 
possible. 

If one reads the Winter letters collated by Mr. 
Baxter, that are known to the antiquary as the 
''Trelawny Papers," their pages are thronged with 
phantoms and each becomes a Uving picture in 
which the personaUties of Winter and Cleeve domi- 
nate, and into which Robert Jordan is projected to 
give them the touch of finaUty; for it was not long 
after Cleeve had hghted his hearth fire above the 
sands of Machigonie Point that Winter, with char- 
acteristic greed, laid claim to all the territory between 
the Spurwink and Presumpcot rivers. He began 
legal proceedings in the local courts to oust Cleeve 
from Casco Neck. Numerous affidavits were had of 
men whose acquiantance with the locahty went back 
to the coming of Christopher Levett, each and all of 
whom made ready oath that the Presumpscot stream 
was, and had, ever since their earUest coining, been 
known as Casco River. 

This controversy lasted for years, with Winter 
ever upon the heels of Cleeve hke a hound after a 



232 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

wild boar, and that was hardly concluded before 
the death of Winter; but Cleeve, through the sturdy 
honesty of Thomas Gorges, prevailed in the premises, 
who came, finally, to enjoy his holdings on the shores 
of picturesque Casco Bay without further interfer- 
ence. In fact. Death settled the score; otherwise 
Cleeve and Winter were Hkely to have been embroiled 
in litigious quarrel longer. As it was, Cleeve was 
practically impoverished, and in his declining years 
found himself shorn of property, influence, and even 
the cherished friendships of those he had known 
longest. 

Winter was notably greedy, and he would have 
gobbled the entire Maine Province had he been 
unmolested. He cut Cammock's hay and carried 
it off, nor is there any record that he ever made him 
any recompense for it. He boldly claimed land out- 
side the Trelawny grant, casting envious eyes across 
the silvery Spurwink to the fair pine lands of Black 
Point, perceiving it to be a goodly heritage. Every 
move of Cleeve was followed with catlike scrutiny; 
and hardly ever out of court, being of an exceeding 
litigious disposition, is it any wonder that the Tre- 
lawny venture on Richmond's Island should find 
its way ultimately down the "red lane" of Winter's 
absorbing appetite for personal aggrandizement; or 
that Trelawny's heirs begged in vain for the restora- 
tion of their patrimony from so apt a pupil as Robert 
Jordan. 

The old couplet is doubtless as applicable to Winter 
as to others 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 233 

"The evil men do lives after them; 
The good, too oft interred with their bones." 

The smirch attaches to the garb of the son-in-law, the 
smirch of covetousness ; for property in those days, 
as now, was a means to an end, to power and local 
influence, which latter were sufficient unto the needs 
of the average colonial conscience. 

At Winter's death this wide territory fell by heir- 
ship to his only child, the wife of Robert Jordan, and 
through her to Jordan himself. From the time 
that Winter came when he discovered that the 
"Barnstaple" men had appropriated his fishing 
stages, and of which he informed Trelawny after the 
following querulous manner: "We have not strength 
as yet to resist them," and, "yf yt be lawfullfor any 
one to take up any of the place that I have taken 
heare for your vse, you must not expecte to have 
but httle Rome for the ship to fish heare when she 
cometh with provisions for vs, and to take away the 
fish from vs that God shall send vs. You are nothinge 
at all the better for a patten for a fishing place heare 
yf another shall take yt from vs at their pleasure," 
Winter seemed to be always in trouble. 

Before Winter's decease, the seeds of dissension 
and rebellion in England had been sown, the final 
results of which were Edgemore, Naseby, and Bristol. 
With the surrender of Bristol, the capture of the 
first Charles, the imprisonment and death of Gorges, 
the protectorate of Cromwell and the final behead- 
ing of Charles, and the obliteration of the bankrupt 
Trelawny, the way to the annulment of the Gorges 



234 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



patent was made easy. Then came the reign of the 
spoilsman. The Plough patent of 1630 was resus- 
citated and turned over to the wilhng Rigby as the 
Lygonia grant, and which included practically all 
of the Trelawny interests, and over which Cleeve 
was deputed to act as the official head. With 
Trelawny insolvent, dead. Winter had obtained 
judgment against his principal for a considerable 




OLD ROBINSON HOUSE 

sum. This judgment lapsed into an irrevocable 
title, and which became ultimately vested in Robert 
Jordan. Some seven years later, or in 1652, the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony, which had bided its time 
patiently to when the Episcopal "heresy" that had 
got some foothold from the Piscataqua, eastward, 
might be peremptorily disposed of, assumed forcible 
control of the local government of the Maine province. 
This it maintained until the Restoration, when the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 235 

Commissioners of Charles II reinstated the royal 
government at York and the Rigby patent was in 
turn ignored, and all the rights of the heirs of Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges to the Palatinate of Maine were 
restored by the English courts. Thus the shadows 
upon the title of Robert Jordan were removed, and 
which was strengthened by the purchase of the 
patent rights of the Gorges heirs by the Bay colony, 
which terminated the regime of the royal commis- 
sioners at York in 1668. Thus Jordan's fee in the 
broad lands of the Cape Ehzabeth shore was made 
absolute. 

In a story of this character it is not feasible to go 
into a mass of detail, but it would naturally follow 
that in time the trading-station at Richmond's 
Island would be forced to take cognizance of other 
and similar ventures along the adjacent coast. Such 
was the fact ; for in the hf etime of Winter prosperous 
trading-stations had been established at Kittery, on 
the Saco at the Vines settlement, at Casco, and at 
Monhegan. These ultimately became the active 
rivals of Winter's enterprise, and which, after the 
latter's death, became merged in ultimate desuetude; 
so, that of all the human evidences of a prosperous 
community of considerable proportions that once 
had existed at Richmond Island, not the shghtest 
vestige remains. Robert Jordan came over here in 
1641, and for all his active cooperation with Winter 
this abandonment of a once cherished and much to 
be desired domain was so complete that only a 
barren spine of rock and a heap of impoverished soil 



236 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

stretched out in the edge of the sea, Hke some emerald- 
backed monster, denuded of its once verdurous 
beauty and stripped of every association of interest 
or value. Every memorial of those who once lent 
color to its activities is obliterated. The place 
where John Winter was resolved into dust is unknown. 
One walks over Richmond Island to-day from one end 
to the other, and hears only the low moan of the 
sea, the swash of the tide, the sullen roar of the surf 
or the scream of the seabird. Only the ceaseless 
smiting of the sea along these outer shores choked 
with devil-apron and the debris of ocean-fed weeds; 
only the isolation of nature to keep the sea apart 
from the land is all left of the past. Even the 
tradition of those far days is scant, and one has 
only the hnes penned by Winter to Trelawny from 
which to glean the story, marred with evident and 
intentional misrepresentation, and washed out in 
the vitriol of Winter's own heart blood, — for in 
them one finds the nude portrait of their author 
painted with his own hand and with trenchant 
technique. 

One conjures up the low roofs of this semi-ancient 
people, and among them one sees Richard Mather, 
who here sought asylum from English persecution. 
Here is Tom Morton, of Merry Mount, who gave 
Winthrop so many nightmare rides on his pungent 
shafts of wit and angered him with his Maypole 
dances and boon carousals across the Quincy marshes, 
and not so far but sounds of hilarious revel made 
echo even in the streets of old Boston. How he 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



237 



scored Winthrop in his New England Canaan, 
torreador fashion! Here comes Thomas Jocelyn, 
the gentleman made famous by his "Two Voyages," 
with Richard Vines and Cammock, both accepted 
friends of Gorges; while from the lips of Richard 
Gibson one hears the litany of the Church of England 







for the first time on these afterward historic shores. 
And not the least among all these worthies is the 
recollection of the author of " New England's Pros- 
pect," William Wood. 

I have said that no vestige of this prior occupancy 
of Richmond Island was left; but I forgot, as one is 
wont to do, for, in 1855, a man plowing athwart the 
thin soil of these once famous island slopes turned 



238 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

up with his plowshare an earthen pot, a bit of old 
cracked pottery which the children following along 
the furrow, as children will, appropriated for a 
childish voyage of curiosity. Scraping off the dirt, 
moist and yellow and cool from the plow, there 
was a glint of a strange metal. Here were mingled 
gold and silver coins and a signet ring of gold, of 
quaint and beautiful artisanship, and many of them 
contemporary with the days of the Winter occupancy, 
and the same described by the Troll of Richmond 
Island as the property of Walter Bagnall and stolen 
by Squidraysett before the Bagnall trading-post was 
put to the torch by the savages. Did the Indian 
Sagamore drop this old pot as he made haste to get 
over the bar before the tide on that fatal night, or 
was it the saving of some other, and which was 
overlooked in the flight of 1679, when the savages 
came down from the eastward to kill and burn? 
It is recorded that in the neighborhood of the hiding- 
place of the old pot were traces of rotten wood, as 
if here may have been the habitation of some thrifty 
settler of Winter's and Jordan's time, or of the time 
of Bagnall. Willis inchnes to its being a part of the 
theft of the savage ; but it is more reasonable to look 
upon it as an overlooked or forgotten rehc of a former 
thrift. If one is curious, and wishes for a descrip- 
tion of the coins so safely hoarded for so long a time 
in this frail hibernacle of ruddy clay, and which are 
now to be seen among the treasures of the Maine 
Historical Society, a footnote to one of Willis' delight- 
ful pages which make up that out of print volume, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 239 

his story of early Portland will afford ample informa- 
tion. These coins may have been part of some 
buried treasure, and the author is of the opinion that 
such is the fact, borne out by the debris of an old 
sill or timber, not unlikely the remains of an old 
cabin of the early Bagnall regime. 

As one recalls this incident, strange pictures again 
crowd the brain, and it is a motley crew that troops 
across the vision as one sits Selkirk-like upon some 
outcropping ledge above the ruins of this mimic 
Carthage of more modern times. In these days a 
single lone, low-browed dwelhng stands for a sug- 
gestion of a humanity effete, decayed, except that 
its essence has been transmitted through a long hne 
of descent to these days, a humanity once pregnant 
with all the passions, the loves, and animosities of 
one's kind; and one can feel the weird influence that 
comes with every gust of wind from off the sea; 
which, like some disembodied spirit with an intangi- 
ble presence, mocks at the revel of nature in its utter 
obliteration of what was once so real and so tangible. 
The little harbor is thronged with ships, a throng of 
phantom sails, and one hears the strident creaking 
of the stays, the flapping of idle sails, and the hoarse 
shouts of the sailors. One gets the savory smell of 
the drying fish on the flakes, which, after all, is but 
the salty breath of the sea. Over on Black Point, 
dubbed Prout's Neck nowadays, is the smoke of 
Cammock's cabin, which, after all, is but the trail 
of mist coaxed by the summer sun from the rising 
tide. 



240 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

There is nothing much attractive about this island 
in these days. It is an isolated place; yet, hke a 
spring bubbling over its emerald cup to trickle down 
the roadside to keep the traveler cheerful compan- 
ionship, its scant blades of grass are ever ajar with 
the lingering romance of ancient traditions. One 
finds here only these blades of grass, a tangle of 
weeds and gray ledges painted with lichens, stones 
that once echoed to the footsteps, that, made over 
two centuries ago, still sound down the years, as they 
ever will, as the footsteps of those who in part made 
the civilization of the New England of to-day possible. 

It is a far cry, as the author has already avouched, 
nor yet so far but that the wizard wand of one's 
imagination let loose along this island slope raises, 
Witch of Endor-like, a goodly company of spirits 
such as throng the strange world of dreams and 
drowsy fantasies; and, would the trees but grow again 
and the wild grapes weave anew their festoons of 
verdurous fruitiness, this Isle of Bacchus w^ould 
make the vision of Champlain a pre&ent reality. 




THE SIGNET RING 



THE STORY OF "A BROKEN TYTLE'' 




THE STORY OF "A BROKEN TYTLE" 




F one wishes to go back to the be- 
ginning of things under the Enghsh 
influence on these shores of the New 
World, 1606 is as good a date as 
any at which to set up one's theodohte 
and from which to run one's courses; 
for, April 10 of that year was the 
date of the original charter to the 
Southern Colony, and, which, a year later, had 
resulted in the settlement of Jamestown on the 
coast of Virginia. This Southern Colony was a 
clique of adventurers of much wealth and as well 
of much influence at the English court. Much 
was expected of this second enterprise, and it 

243 



244 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

may be said to have been successful, for the James- 
town settlement proved to be a permanent one, and 
not long after its establishment a profitable enter- 
prise. It found a fertile soil and a genial climate, 
nor were its physical features less suggestive and 
pleasing. Its forests were thronged with appetizing 
game, hkewise its bays and inlets; and its surround- 
ing waters were stocked with dehcious edibles. 

This southern colony, or to be more exact, the 
London company, included in its grant all the terri- 
tory between Cape Fear on the Carolina coast and 
the middle of New Jersey, that is, all lands between 
the 34 and 41 degrees north latitude. 

This company was exceeding fortunate in that it 
pitched upon a middle ground, whose extremes of 
climate were not burdensome. It was a country of 
fine rivers, which found their way to the bays and 
tide waters through a land that had only to be 
scratched lightly to bloom with a semi-tropic luxuri- 
ance. Here were wild fruits in abundance in season. 
It was the land of the rose and the vine. It was the 
land of the aborigine, whose chronic attitude toward 
the newcomers was one of open and too frequently 
aggressive hostility. The romantic fiction of Captain 
John Smith and Pocahontas is strung upon these 
early days, and helps to fix in the mind the locality, 
which by reason of its being the second earUest 
Enghsh attempt at colonization, and of its relation 
to the abortive efforts which were Ukely to follow 
in its wake, should not be forgotten. 

It may strike the reader that it is the history of 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 245 

that early Virginia settlement which is to be the 
subject of this sketch, but a brief notice is necessary, 
foreign as it may seem, for its sequence is formed by 
the issuing of what Vines in a letter to Winthrop 
designated as a "broken tytle," and which later 
was the cause of much controversy over the land 
titles along the southern coast of the province of 
Maine. This first Virginia colony was but indif- 
ferently successful for the first two years of its 
career, but an accession in 1609 of five hundred per- 
sons, of whom twenty were women and children, 
gave it a new impetus. Shortly after this, the rais- 
ing of tobacco became the chief industry, to which 
the soil and climate were peculiarly adapted. The 
most ordinary shelter was all that was necessary to 
protect these people from heat or cold, for at no time 
of the year was there any notable inclemency of the 
weather. The exportation of tobacco became ulti- 
mately the business of the colonists. It was their 
currency which was minted by the mild and salubrious 
influences of the southern sun into vegetable gold. 
A decade had gone when one spring day, it was in 
1619, an Enghsh vessel dropped anchor in Jamestown 
harbor laden with an unusual freight. There were 
ninety English lasses aboard who were to be bartered 
to the Jamestown planters as wives for one hundred 
pounds of tobacco per pair of ruddy lips, the pro- 
ceeds of which were apphed to the expenses of trans- 
portation. With these came a labor contingent of 
one hundred convicts, and about this time a Dutch 
vessel with a small cargo of negroes to lay the founda- 



246 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

tion of the slave trade that afterward assumed such 
ominous proportions. 

If one desires a vivid picture of the scene which 
was enacted upon the arrival of these young English 
maids, one can do no better than to appeal to the 
riant imagination of Miss Johnston, whose romance 
of Ralph Percy and the wooing of his dainty English 




^^i^m^'^ji^^^^'^^ y^ '^'^A^r/y 









\\\vV 



:,|./ ''' 




CAPE SMALL POINT, SAND DUNES 

wife makes a realistic episode of the early days of 
this first Enghsh foothold. It was this year that 
the colony established the assembly, an elective 
form of government, which six years later was 
annulled by the whimsical Charles, and its power 
vested in an oUgarchy made up of a governor and a 
council, from which overt act of kingly prerogative 
was doubtless evolved the germ of the colonial 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 247 

secession. The story of this colony down to 1609, 
when the London company was reincorporated under 
the title of " The Treasurer and Company of Adven- 
turers and Planters of the City of London for the 
first Colony in Virginia," is a romance smeared with 
the hot blood of tragedy. 

To quote from an old English play is to discover 
the incentives that impelled or actuated these 
early adventurers to come hither and to plant a 
colony on the spot selected by Smith, one of the first 
council of Jamestown, and which location was so 
strenuously opposed by Gosnold. 

Seagull, a character in "Eastward Ho!" says: 
' ' I tell thee golde is more plentiful there than copper 
is with us; and for as much redde copper as I can 
bring I'll have thrise the weight in gold. Why, man, 
all their dripping-pans . . . are pure gould; and all 
the chaines with which they chain up their streets 
are massie gold; and for rubies and diamonds, they 
goe forth in Holydayes and gather them by the 
sea shore, to hang on their children's coates and 
sticke in their children's caps, as commonly as our 
children wear saffron gilt brooches and groates with 
holes in 'hem." As Brock says, Seagull pictures a 
hfe of ease and luxury, the climax of allurement, 
with "no more law than conscience, and not too 
much of eyther." 

Richard Hakluyt was perhaps as guilty as Seagull, 
and rude was the awakening on the Susan Constant, 
the God-Speed, and the Discovery as their anchors 
broke the emerald waters of the Powhatan, now the 



248 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

classic James. For all his great services to American 
colonization Hakluyt had all his information at 
second hands, and he was oftentimes too credulous 
a hstener. Reference has been made heretofore to 
his work, "A Discourse on Westerne Planting," and 
he says in his preface to his ''Principal Navigations": 
"I do remember that being a youth, and one of her 
Majestie's scholars at Westminster, that fruitfull 
nurserie, it was my happe to visit the chamber of 
Mr. Richard Hakluyt my cosin, a Gentleman of 
the Middle Temple, well known unto you, at a time 
when I found lying vpen his boord certeine bookes 
of Cosmographie with a vniversal Mappe: he seeing 
me somewhat curious in the view thereof, began to 
instruct my ignorance by showeing me the divisions 
thereof." 

It seems that these revelations to young Hakluyt 
were emphasized by the reading by his " cosin" of the 
one hundred and seventh Psalm, concerning those 
who go down to the sea in ships; so he continues 
in his preface: "The words of the Prophet, together 
with my cosin's discourse (things of high and rare 
dehght to my young nature), I tooke so deepe an 
impression that I constantly resolved, if euer I were 
preferred to the Vniversity, where better time and 
more convenient place might be ministered for these 
studies, I would by God's assistance prosecute that 
knowledge and kinde of hterature, the doores whereof 
(after a sort) were so happily opened before me." 
Hakluyt found his burial place in Westminster Abbey 
in 1616, but not before his life work of inspiring the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 249 

redemption of the New World was in a way of being 
accomplished. 

This brief reference to Jamestown leaves one on 
the verge of 1620, with thirty-six years intervening 
between the Raleigh Expedition under Philip Amadas 
and Arthur Barlowe, who anchored in New Inlet, 
July 4, 1584, going by a small boat a few days later 
to Roanoke where Grenville landed a colony the fol- 
lowing year, and which, in 1606, had disappeared 
utterly, with the result that the location was aban- 
doned by Raleigh, entirely. As we have seen, the 
next attempt at colonization, after many dangers, out 
of which came annihilation almost, much dissension 
and mingled vicissitude, became a permanence on the 
banks of the James. 

Following the incorporation of the London com- 
pany, the interests of which, as we have seen, were 
located on the James River, came the estabhshment 
during the same year of " the adventurers or asso- 
ciates of the northern colony of Virginia." This 
colony began an ambitious settlement under the 
auspices of Popham and Gilbert on the Sagadahoc 
River at Sabino, now better known as Hunne well's 
Point, which was known as the Popham Colony 
which a year later was transferred to Pemcuit, the 
story of which has been the subject of much acrid 
controversy and clouded with much of speculation 
and empty conjecture. The story of this venture 
properly belongs to the fourth volume in this series 
and is touched upon in this connection but incident- 
ally. It is conceded upon good authority, especially 



250 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



such voyagers as Captain John Smith and his con- 
temporaries, that, from the year 1607, to the advent 
of the Mayflower, here was a trading-post and a 
favorite harboring for the EngUsh fishermen. And, 
while it is true that 1607 witnessed the abandonment 
of the Sabino colony by Gilbert and his partisans, it 
is certain that the Popham interest represented by 
some forty-five of the original colonists, found its 
way to Pemaquid, an adjacent point to the east- 




ward, and that there was continued through more 
or less acute fluctuations of vitality, the original 
project of George Popham to found a new career for 
himself and his followers. The settlement at Pema- 
quid, to use the language of another writer, was "a, 
languid exotic," but the thread which began its 
unwinding at Sabino was never wholly lost hold of; 
for the Popham influence kept it securely twisted 
about its forefinger, and it may be stated uncon- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 251 

ditionally, that from 1607 there was at Pemaquid a 
secure English foothold, as Plastrier found to his 
chagrin when he was compelled to surrender to Pop- 
ham's good ship, the Gift of God. 

The material from which this opinion is deduced 
is abundant, incontrovertible, and to the fair mind, 
satisfactory. However unprofitable or even insig- 
nificant in its local importance this nucleus at Pema- 
quid may have been, its continuity must be accepted. 
The natural abandonment of the original enterprise, 
resulting from the death of Popham and the disin- 
clination of Gilbert to encounter the hardships of 
another Sagadahoc winter, was productive of much 
discouragement among the members of the company 
promoting the enterprise. While the organization 
of the company survived the withdrawal of many of 
its influential and wealthy patentees. Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges and the sons of Popham represented the for- 
lorn hope, and it was through these latter that the 
interest in the Pemaquid settlement was kept up, 
though perhaps but slenderly. This is the first 
appearance of Gorges, one of the original patentees 
of the Northern colony, who twenty years later was 
to exercise a powerful and lasting influence in the 
settlement of the province of Maine, and to achieve 
for himself the fatherhood of its colonization. Of 
the meetings and records of this company, Deane 
says, "we have no trace." 

All active exertions on the part of the company 
having ceased. Gorges sent out fishing, trading, and 
exploring expeditions in turn, apparently never 



252 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

doubting the consummation of his belief in the 
ultimate settlement of all the territory adjacent to 
the Sagadahoc. He despatched Vines hither in 1609, 
1616, Vines finally laying the permanent sills to his 
house on the edge of Biddeford Pool in 1630. Con- 
temporary with Vines was Weymouth and Rocroft, 
who sailed their ships hither in the interest of Gorges, 
the fires of whose ambition for the estabhshment of a 
prosperous Enghsh colony between the Kennebec 
and the Merrimac never waned. There is no doubt 
but Gorges and the Popham heirs between them 
held the vital spark, that, with the incorporation of 
the "Council for New England," November 3, 
1620, burst into a lively flame. 

The patentees in this latter company numbered 
forty, the majority of whom were persons of dis- 
tinguished rank, and of whom thirteen were peers, 
some of whom stood very near to the first James in 
importance and influence. 

The title of this third company which was projected 
in March, 1619, in a petition to the Privy Council 
of the Crown, urged forward by Sir Francis Popham 
and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who with others were 
recognized as the "heirs, successors, and assigns" 
of the contract of 1606, and to which "letters patent" 
were granted on the last-mentioned date, was the 
"Council established at Plymouth, in the County of 
Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and govern- 
ing of New England in America." In history, as a 
state paper, this patent is known as the "Great 
New England Charter. " As Sewall says, it " is in law 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 253 

and fact the complement of the royal contract of 
April 10, 1606; and is related thereto as a deed to its 
escrow." 

Here was opportunity for a monopoly. Gorges 
was not slow to discover its possibilities and to improve 
them. Probably no Englishman of the time was in 
closer touch with this new land, or better equipped 
in his knowledge of its products. For fourteen years 
he had almost yearly sent out his captains, who had, 
by their relations, afforded him a store of information 
of the most practical character. No doubt they had 
colored their stories to match Gorges's expectations, 
but, in the main, his information was at first hands 
and was fairly accurate. This patent to the New 
England council had not been gained without stren- 
uous opposition on the part of the Southern colony. 
Parhament had sustained the contention of the 
latter, but the king was the boon friend of these 
adventurers, and ordered the great seal to be affixed 
to the New England patent, which was to be ex- 
pected, as many of the privy council were among the 
patentees. 

The monopoly to be desired was that of the fisher- 
ies. It was the bone over which Parliament, which 
had not met for seven years, began a lively quarrel; 
for the New England gi-ant carried with it the sole 
privilege of fishing along its shores, which the Sir 
Edward Sandys declared worth "one hundred 
thousand pounds per annum in coin." Parliament 
advocated "freer hberty of fishing," and enacted in 
the Commons, December 18, 1621, "Sir Ferdinando 



254 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Gorges and Sir Jo. Bowcer, the patentees for fishing 
in and about New England, to be warned to appear 
here the first day of next Access, and to bring their 
patent, or a copy thereof." Subsequently the king 
dissolved the Parliament, but not before it had 
spread upon its records a protest vindicating its 
privileges, which the king obliterated by tearing the 
obnoxious protest from the Journal. Gorges was 
twice before the committee of the House. He was 
examined by Sir Edward Coke, who declared the New 
England patent " a monopoly, and the color of plant- 
ing a colony put upon it for particular ends and 
private gain." Gorges showed a deal of adroitness, 
and always courteous, told the story of his expeditions 
which he had carried on to his great cost and dis- 
couragement, and it was only the proroguing of 
Parhament that prevented the passage of the law 
granting free fishing. As it was, these disputes, 
lasting over a period of two years, held the affairs of 
the council for New England at a standstill during 
that time. 

The territory embraced in this patent lay between 
the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees north latitude, 
that is to say, all that country lying southward of the 
Kennebec to the Merrimac. This patent once freed 
from the opposition of the Southern colony, the plans 
of the New England company were formulated. It 
included the laying out of a county forty miles square 
on the Kennebec River. A city was to be built at 
the junction of the Androscoggin and the Kennebec. 
Already a ship had been built for the use of the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



255 



embryo colony, and the keels for others were to be 
laid immediately, and which were to be used as con- 
voys and defenses on the New England coast. Members 
were assessed one hundred and ten pounds, individ- 
ually, but only this levy was accomphshed; for, with 
the coming in of Parliament, February 12, 1623, the 
fight against the Gorges company was renewed. 
The following minute appears on its records: "Mr. 




SIGNERS OF PATENT OF 1621 



Neale delivereth in the bill for freer Uberty of fishing 
on the coasts of North America." "Five ships of 
Plymouth under arrest, and two of Dartmouth, 
because they went to fish in New England. This 
done by warrant from the Admiralty. To have 
these suits staid till this bill have had its passage. 
This done by Sir Ferdinando Gorges his patent. 
Ordered that this patent be brought into the Com- 
mittee of Grievances upon Friday next. " 

Gorges was the active spirit, and it was seemingly 



256 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Gorges who was on trial. He made an address to the 
committee of the House, but it had no weight; for, 
the movement against him was a popular one and 
was led by men of no less importance than Sir Edward 
Coke. Gorges felt this attack upon his enterprise 
keenly, and he complains, "This then pubhc declara- 
tion of the Houses . . . shook off all my adven- 
turers for plantation, and made many quit their 
interest. " 

It is not over difficult to paint a picture from a 
mental point of view of the situation. Gorges was 
the moving spirit, the mainspring of events. He 
was energetic, forceful, sanguine, and diplomatic. 
As has been before said, he was adroit in his manip- 
ulation of his kind. It was a get rich quick propo- 
sition, with an alluring prospect. It had all the 
elements of fascination that lends to the western 
silver mine of to-day its halo of frequent and enormous 
dividends. Because it was a terra incognita, it was 
the more attractive, the more plausible, and as an 
enterprise, possible. But little was known of the 
severity of the New England climate, and absolutely 
nothing as to the quality of its soil or its adapta- 
bility to immediate uses, an experimental knowledge 
of both of which was absolutely necessary to the 
successful establishment of a thriving colony. Fish 
and furs were abundant, and undoubtedly trade was 
the primary object. But trading-stations and fish- 
ing-stations were imperative. It was known that 
the country was heavily timbered, and it was believed 
that mines for silver and gold could be profitably 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 257 

worked. Captain John Smith came hither in 1614, 
to dig gold. Like a sensible man he at once saw the 
advantages to be derived from the fishing industry, 
and recommended to his countrymen that they drop 
their mining schemes and go to fishing. But fishing 
was not for earls and the titled patentees who made 
up the Gorges company, and who evidently were 
something of a fair-weather set; for it was true 
that when the popular storm broke, the majority of 
them ran to shelter, and whether from policy or the 
more mercenary conclusion that there was no money 
in the enterprise for them, is and will be always an 
open question. 

Abandoned as he was by all but Warwick, Goche, 
and a few others, sure, however, of the support and 
influence of the king, his activity subsided. The 
company was left to its fate, and was apparently a 
defunct institution. Affairs with Spain for a time 
attracted the attention of Gorges, whither and against 
which power he was despatched upon an errand for 
the king. Meantime London lay under the ban of 
the plague, and for a year commerce was at a stand- 
still, even the judicial fuflctions of the courts being 
discontinued. It was shortly after this that Brad- 
ford came over to sohcit the interest of the council 
for New England in a matter of correcting some 
abuses on the part of the Dutch and Enghsh fisher- 
men that had begun to assume formidable pro- 
portions along the coast to the eastward of the 
Plymouth colony. This aroused Gorges to action, 
and the scheme of colonization was raked over anew. 



258 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

and from out the embers a new fire was lighted on 
the old hearth. 

To go back a triad of years, to 1623, and before 
Neale's bill for free fishing had been injected into 
the "plot" of these alleged monopoHsts, and when 
Gorges "promoting" the company, and endeavoring 
to get it upon a soHd financial basis, was met with the 
pertinent suggestion from those w^ho were pressed 
for their assessments, that their interest or share 
should be set out to them, the council decided to 
divide the entire territory of New England among 
those interested "in the plot remaining with Dr. 
Goche, " Dr. Goche was the treasurer of the corpora- 
tion. To quote the record, the reason for this 
ripping apart of Benjamin's coat, is, " For that some 
of the adventurers excuse the non-payment in of 
their adventures because they know not their shares 
for which they are to pay, which much prejudiceth 
the proceedings; it is thought fit that the land of New 
England be divided in this manner; viz., by 20 
lots, and each lot to contain 2 shares. And for that 
there are not full 40 and above 20 adventurers, that 
only 20 shall draw those lots." This drawing was 
had at Greenwich on Sunday, June 29, 1623, at which 
the king was an attendant, and as well master of 
ceremonies. 

The record gives a quaint description of the pro- 
ceedings. It states that there was given to the 
king " a plot of all the coasts and lands of New Eng- 
land, divided into twenty parts, each part contain- 
ing two shares, and twenty lots containing said 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 259 

double shares, made up in little bales of wax, and 
the names of the twenty patentees by whom these 
lots were to be drawn." There were eleven patentees 
present. These drew for themselves. Nine other 
lots were drawn for the absentees, and the king 
himself drew for Buckingham's who was in Spain 
and as well those of two others. 

Nothing immediate, however, came of this pro- 
ceeding, perhaps because it was so soon followed by 
the antagonistic attitude of Parhament. With the 
action of Parhament, 1623-1624 the company had 
received its quietus. It is to be noted, that early in 
this eventful year, or on May 5, 1623, this company 
made a gi-ant to Christopher Levett, who sailed away 
to New England at once, and who, after a season 
of prospecting and visiting, built a substantial shelter 
on a small island in Casco Bay, opposite Machigonie 
Point. It was not until 1628 that a second and 
third grant were made respectively to the settlers at 
Plymouth for a trading-post on the Kennebec, and 
to Rosewell, Endicott, and others of Boston. The 
following year recorded a grant to John Mason on 
November 7, but this was not confirmed by the 
king, who was jealous of the powers intended to be 
conferred on Mason by the New England council, 
as was evidenced in the language of the grant, powers 
which, although vested in the original patentees, 
were not transferable, or to be exercised by other 
than the parent company. Ten days later came the 
Laconia grant. Other grants followed these two of 
1629 with varying rapidity. 



260 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



In 1630 came the grant of a tract forty miles 
square to John Dye and others. The details of this 
patent are meager, for the original patent dis- 
appeared, and it is not known that there is a single 
copy of it in existence. A definite description of 
the boundary lines of this patent, for that reason, 
is impossible. Mention of this patent is made for 
the reason it was made to play not many years later 
a very important part under the Cromwell Protec- 




FORT SCAMMEL, HOUSE ISLAND, WHERE LEVETT BUILT HIS HOUSE 



torate. It was issued on the 26th of June of the 
above-mentioned year. Hubbard locates this grant 
as "south of the Sagadahoc River," "twenty miles 
from the seaside. " Maverick, an annalist circa 1660, 
says, " There was a patent granted to Christo : Bat- 
chelor and Company in the year 1632, or thereabouts, 
for the mouth of the River (the Kennebec is probably 
meant) and some tract of land adjacent." SulHvan 
mentions "Two Islands in the River Sagadahock, 
near the South Side thereof about 60 miles from the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 261 

sea." There are no islands of this description in 
this river, which is conclusive of the unfamiUarity 
of the company with the territory intended to be 
granted. 

Dye came over, but no livery of seizin was ever 
given him, nor did he ever exercise any rights of 
possession, although from a manuscript of contempo- 
rary origin to be seen at the Maine Historical Society 
which had its author in one of the attorneys for the 
heirs of Col. Alexander Rigby the following is gleaned: 
" In the year 1630, The s*^ Bryan Bincks, John Smith 
& others associates go personally into New England 
& settle themselves in Casco Bay near the Southside 
of Sagadahock & lay out considerable Sums of Money 
in planting there & make laws & constitutions for 
the well ruUng & governing their s*^ Plantations & 
Provence." 

Winthrop is the safer authority to the contrary. 

It is of interest to note right here, before con- 
sidering subsequent grants by the Council for New 
England, that the boundaries of the Plough patent 
and province of Lygonia were approximated and 
laid out by commissioners who were given that duty 
in 1846, as being bounded on the east by the Saga- 
dahoc and Pejepscot rivers, and on the south by 
the Mousam River, which empties into the sea at 
Cape Porpoise. From the seacoast westerly, the line 
extends inland forty miles. By what authority are 
these arbitrary bounds estabhshed without profert 
of the original patent in the absence of a duly certified 
copy, and in the face of a letter from one of the 



262 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



London partners that Gorges "douth afferm that he 
neur gaue consent, that you should haue aboufe 
forte mills in lenkth and 20 mills in bredth, and 




S^VE.-- 



'^^^■^W/^;; 
^'x:, ./ 






J 



'/^o/j-f 



sayeth that his one hand is not to your patten if 
it haue anne more; . . . and that there was one 
Bradshaw that had proquired letters patten for a 
part as wee soposed of our fformer grant, so wee 
think stell, but he and Sir Fferdinando think it is 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 263 

not in our bouns ... so whe haue dun our good 
wellse and haue proqured his loufe and mane pro- 
mases that wee haue no wrong. Wee bestoud a 
suger lofe vpon him of sume 16s prise, and he hath 
promised to do vs all the good he can. " 

This Bradshaw w^as the one who had his grant at 
" Pashippscott " of fifteen hundred acres, "above the 
hedd ... on the north side thereof," November 2, 
1631, and the same who was accorded the same 
acreage on the east side of the Spurwink River by 
Captain Neale, and which Bradshaw sold to Tucker, 
who being ejected from his title went with Cleeve to 
Casco. 

On February, 12, 1630, grants were made to Vines 
and Oldham of the west side of the mouth of the 
Saco, while on the same day the east side was granted 
to Bonighton and Lewis. These men took immediate 
possession of their assignments. The next year, 
November 1st, Black Point was granted to Thomas 
Cammock. A month later to a day Robert Tre- 
lawny and Moses Goodyeare received a grant of 
Richmond Island and the adjacent mainland east of 
the Spurwink River, and which extended eastward 
to the Casco River. This grant comprised fifteen 
hundred acres, more or less, evidently, for, as acres 
went in those days, they were exceeding generous. 
Cammock had fifteen hundred acres, and the Saco 
River grants extended up that stream eight miles. 

These grants, however, were all within the limits 
of the original grant to Gorges and Mason of August 
10, 1622, which was bounded on the east by the Ken- 



264 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

nebec and on the south by the Merrimac. With the 
subdivision which was made between Gorges and 
Mason when they dissolved tlieir land partnership, 
this paper has nothing to do. But in 1632, Pema- 
quid was granted to Aid worth and Elbridge. In 
1634 twelve thousand acres on the Agamenticus 
were granted to Edward Godfrey, and to Gorges the 
same area on the west side of that river. This 
division between Gorges and Mason was made in 
1635, the Gorges interest extending from the Pis- 
cataqua to the Kennebec, between which river and 
the Sagadahock Mason was granted another plot 
estimated to contain ten thousand acres; while 
eastward of the St. Croix the entire territory was 
that same year granted to Sir William Alexander. 
Neither Mason nor Alexander ever took possession of 
the two latter grants. 

With the foregoing references to the grants of the 
council for New England, the student of the history 
of the period, so far as it refers to the colonization of 
the province of Maine, will be enabled to pass easily 
to the consideration of the Lygonia grant. This 
grant had its foundation in a defunct and inoperative 
patent to John Dye and his associates; but as to 
who these people were or their after careers, along 
with their brief sojourn on the southern coast of 
Maine, a few words will suffice. The earher mem- 
bers of the Company of Husbandmen, for so they 
were called, came over in the summer of 1630, in the 
ship Plough. There were ten of them, and they 
made their landfall in the vicinity of Pemaquid. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 265 

As to their names, it does not matter, though some 
of them are matters of record, while others have 
become lost or utterly obliterated from the record of 
events current of their time. There was, however, 
one Brian Kipling, which in these later days of 
international literature is suggestive of that prince 
of litterateurs whose surname is the same. This 
Brian came along with the Bachiler contingent. J 

Those of the Plough were the advance guard of a 
"peculiar sect" known as the Family of Love, which 
good old Christopher Fuller transposes or alludes to 
as the "Family of Lust." Henry Nicholas of 
Westphalia, once known as an Anabaptist, was the 
original herald of its creed that religion was love, 
wholly. Like many other creeds that have had 
their foundation in fine sentiment, this in particular 
in time resulted in a grossly immoral teaching and 
practice, and which became such a stench to the 
EngUsh nostril that the crown began a rigid investi- 
gation of their behavior, with the result that these 
Familists were blown away, and dispersed upon the 
same winds that absorbed the smokes of their cate- 
chisms and other paraphernaha, which were literally 
burned at the stake. 

For a hundred years after, the doctrine broke out 
in spots, sporadic-like, to be finally ridiculed out of 
existence or into palpable disrepute, so that but a 
few of the sect who had found lodgment in London 
were left, and out of which this levy of ten was made, 
who took to themselves the title of "The Company 
of Husbandmen, " to come over in the Plough under 



266 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the leadership of John Dye, whose object was an 
effective colonization, with the primal object of an 
unrestrained proselytism to the tenets of its reUgion, 
and which colony was to be conducted as an unlimited 
partnership. It was, in fact, to be a diminutive 
commune, to become a member of which the only 
credentials required were a ten-pound note and a 
religious affihation. 

Its business head was made up of John Dye, " dwell- 
ing in Fillpot Lane, " Grace Hardin, Thomas Jupe, and 
John Roch, "dwelling in Crooked Lane," London; 
but, as has hereinbefore been asserted, these "fan- 
natics" made no permanent occupation of the terri- 
tory set out in their patent; nor were they ever 
invested with a shadow of right under the same, or 
a scintilla of proprietorship other than the parch- 
ment that followed them over the next year in 
charge of the company's attorney, and of which Win- 
throp makes brief mention. Once here, attorney 
Richard Dummer held the patent until it was re- 
turned to England. For his services he received 
from Dye a grant of eight hundred acres on Casco 
Bay, which was as inoperative as the original grant. 
Dummer was one of the Familists, in a way. He 
was one of those who "dubled his adventure" along 
with Stephen Bachiler, the unworthy pastor of this 
fickle flock, whose affairs were ultimately spread upon 
the records of the colonial court of Boston. It was 
a tiny South Sea bubble, with charges of fraud and 
deceit, of which Dummer came in for his full share. 
The epitaph of this futile venture was stark bank- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



267 



ruptcy, but London was too far away for it to be 
read there before the AVhale and the Wilham and 
Francis were on their way to Sagadahoc with reen- 
forcements for the colony sent out the year before. 
These ships last named set out from England on the 
7th and 9th of June, 1631, and it was the following 



■«/^- 




OLD MAN OF THE SEA, PEMAQUID POINT 

month that John Dye and his tourists sailed into the 
harbor of Nantascott in Massachusetts Bay. On 
the latter ship came Governor Edward Winslow and 
the afterward notorious Bachiler, who at Hampton, 
at fourscore years, was adjudged to have been 
guilty of an offense against the pubHc morals "with 
his neighbor's wife," and wherefore he was banished 



268 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the country. It was the girl wife of this same 
Stephen Bachiler who was sentenced by the York 
court to wear the " letter A on her left shoulder, " and 
to stand in the pillory in the town square after having 
been given forty stripes save one on the bare back. 

Richard Dumnier and John Wilson came in the 
Whale. Dummer bore a commission, and also 
brought the patent. In all, there were "about 
thirty passengers, all in health." Dummer proved 
to be the shrewdest of all these adventurers. Though 
he "dubled" his contribution, he affixed to it a stout 
string, so in the event of a failure of the scheme he 
could recall it, as he did. According to a letter 
from the London partners, "Mr. Dummer sent his 
money into the hands of a friend, that would not 
deliver it to vs, without bonde to paye it againe. " 
Later, upon the sale to Colonel Rigby of the patent 
by Dye, Parliament demanded the original parch- 
ment which Dummer sent at once, and since which 
time no trace of it has been in existence. 

The local annalists have it that these Famihsts 
found some lodgment on the shore of Casco Bay. 
That they spent the winter of 1630-1631 in its imme- 
diate neighborhood, or at least not farther away than 
Pemaquid, is certain. It is not unlikely that Pema- 
quid was the locality, as the mouth of the Sagadahoc 
was their point of destination, and it is probable 
they were protected by the shelters afforded by the 
fishing station which had been maintained at Pema- 
quid from the time of Popham at Sabino. They 
were to plant their colony in this neighborhood, and 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 269 

as for their attempting any agricultural pursuits at 
either place, Pemaquid or Casco, that was out of the 
question, for the season was well advanced upon their 
arrival. One New England winter was evidently 
enough for these Londoners, nor were they charmed 
by the balmy spring which followed its going. So 
they pulled their anchors out the Sagadahoc mud, 
and shook out their sails, and made their course 
southward along the coast. They sailed up Casco 
Bay, and may have landed for some brief survey of 
its environment, and they may not. In fact, it is not 
known what they did between Sagadahoc and the 
mouth of the Saco, where Vines was building his 
city of log cabins. These voyagers were here for 
several days, making note of the progress of events. 
They had evidently familiarized themselves with the 
marshes along the Scarborough shore and had located 
the grant of Richard Bradshaw. Disheartened by 
the rough and apparently inhospitable character- 
istics of the coast, they left Vines and his Winter 
Harbor settlement, saihng still to the southward to 
next drop anchor off Nantascott, where we are able 
to locate their advent by a memoranda in Winthrop's 
journal under the date of July 6, 1631. In this con- 
nection it is not amiss to refresh one's recollection of 
the date of the Plough patent, which was June 26, 
1630. A dozen days over a year's span had elapsed, 
and the Plough colony had accomplished nothing. 
Undoubtedly their course along the coast was a 
leisurely one. They left Pemaquid in the flush of 
springtide, perhaps not until the rare days in June 



270 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

had come, to sail each day nearer the heart of sum- 
mer. Its heats were no doubt grateful to these 
children of a milder cHmate, after the pallid inclem- 
ency of a winter at the mouth of the Sagadahoc. 

Winthrop makes this note: "A small sail of sixty 
tons arrived at Nantascott, Mr. Graves master. 
She brought ten passengers from London. They 
came with a patent to Sagadahock, but not Hking the 
place, they came hither. These were the company 




A SCARBOROUGH FISHER'S HUT 



called the Husbandmen, and their ship called the 
Plough." 

In a year after, these people were scattered through 
the different settlements about Boston, and their 
commonplace history closed. It has been a question 
why the patent came to be granted, overlapping as 
it did other valid gi-ants, the title to wliich was still 
further strengthened by an immediate and lawful 
occupancy. It would seem as if Gorges's desire was 
to plant colonies wherever he could induce peoi)le to 
settle, else he betrayed a woful ignorance of the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 271 

geography of the coast, from the Sagadahoc to the 
Piscataqua. Ignorance of the whereabouts of Cape 
Porpoise is the most plausible solution, for it is doubt- 
ful if, in his friendship for Vines, to leave Cammock 
and Bonighton unmentioned, he would have become 
a party to so palpable an error. It may be noted 
in this place that it was on the 2d of December, 1631, 
that Walter Bagnall was granted Richmond Island, 
and on the same day two thousand acres were 
granted to John Stratton, of Shotley, which were 
located on the south side of Cape Porpoise River, and 
who took possession of the islands off Black Point, 
one of which has since ever borne his name. 

February 2, 1635, the patentees divided the terri- 
tory by lot. As has been noted, the last grant w^as 
to Sir John Alexander. Following this came the 
surrender of the charter of the council for New 
England on the 7th of June of the same year. The 
company of patentees had no farther use for it. The 
cow had been milked, and was now turned back into 
the royal pasture. Gorges's subsequent activities 
along the York coast are a matter of history. 

It is a misfortune to those who come after, often- 
times, that certain others have been before; but that 
chickens come home to roost, is proverbial. It was 
true in the case of George Cleeve, the resuscitator of 
the latent vitality, if it ever had any vitaUty at all, 
of the so-called Plough patent. It was hke the 
brand of the wicked thrown into the wheatfield of 
the righteous; for, under the manipulation of the 
settler of Casco Bay who played lago, with his spe- 



272 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

cious forgeries and lies, to Gorges' Othello, Cleeve 
for a brief space got the head of Vines under the 
pillow of disrepute with his noble friend. Upon the 
exposure of Cleeve 's beguiling falsehoods, which had 
resulted in the recall of William Gorges, nephew of 
Sir Ferdinando, who had assumed the control of the 
pro\Tince immediately upon his arrival here in 1636, 
by holding a court at Saco, March 21, the first ever 
held in the Gorges jurisdiction, and the removal of 
Vines from his offices, hardly two years later, and the 
installation of himself, Cleeve, as deputy governor, 
Gorges' action was speedy and conclusive; for, upon 
discovering the jackal-like character of Cleeve, he 
at once dismissed him from his service and rein- 
stated Vines, adding to his honors by conferring upon 
him the deputy-governorship of the province. 

Cleeve, defeated and sore, went into retirement at 
Machigonie Point, there to pour his acrid complaints 
into the ears of his Roderigo, Richard Tucker, — 

"by the faith of man, 
I know my price, I am worth no less a place," 

and who, no doubt, comforted his leader as best he 
could ; for Cleeve was the predominating spirit within 
the purheus of Casco Bay. One can hear him pour- 
ing into Tucker's ears, — 

"You shall mark 
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave. 
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage. 
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass. 
For naught but provender; and when he's old, cashiered: 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 273 

Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are, 
Who, trimmed in forms and visages of duty. 
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves; 
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords. 

Do well thrive by them and, when they have hn d their 

Do themselves homage; these fellows have some soul; 
And such a one I do profess myself. " 

Cleeve was a man hungry for power. He longed 
for the fleshpots of Egypt, and his wits were being 
held close to the emery-wheel of disappomted ambi- 
tions. He hugs the ear of his Roderigo the closer, 
who is later to arouse the household of Brabantio 
with the annoyance of this prime conspirator, Cleeve. 
What councils were held in Cleeve's cabin that 
looked out upon the fascinating beauty and shifting 
charm of this idylUc bay, in sun or storm, will never 
be known; but one can hear, by a stretch ot the 
imagination, this plotter against the peace of his 
neighbors, which included John Winter at Rich- 
mond Island, of a surety, at his lago-hke vaponngs, 
with Tucker occupying the entire front row, and who, 
no doubt, applauded at the proper place; for Tucker 
had a bone of his own to pick with Winter. 

" I follow but myself ; 
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, 
But seeming so, for my pecuhar end ; 
For when my outward action doth demonstrate 
The native act and figure of my heart 
In compUment extern, 'tis not long after 
I will wear my heart upon my sleeve 
For daws to peck at : I am not what I am. " 



274 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



From what came after, this may be assumed to 
have been the philosophy of Cleeve, the downright 
purpose, assuredly. As Dr. Banks says, ''That he 
exliumed this forgotten skeleton, wired it together, 
and made it dance to suit his schemes for personal 
aggrandizement and private revenge rather than 

from motives of 
the common pub- 
lic welfare," is ap- 
parent ; but who 
suggested this 
scheme, or by what 
unfortunate incident 
Cleeve fell upon it, 
it is evident that once 
thought of it was not 
to be forgotten, or 
neglected. His brood- 
ing disposition al- 
lowed him no time to 
absorb the purifying 
and uplifting influ- 
ences that greeted his 
vision with every dawn or with every set of sun. 
He was oblivious to the reach of emerald waters 
that stretched from his cabin door down the harbor 
to mingle with the purple haze of its island-hemmed 
horizon. His ears were not attuned to the music 
of the bursting buds of the opening springtide, 
the balmy caresses of the warm south winds, or 
the roulades of song that burst from the throats 




THE SOKOKI TRAIL 275 

of the nest builders whose advent should thrill 
the hearts of men with praise and thanksgiving. 
Doubtless, hke many another, he could distinguish 
a duck with a shilUng mark upon its wings from a 
worthless crane planted in the mud, and mayhap he 
knew the crow from the other feathered tribes; but 
the whistle of the robin or the silver bell of the 
thrush found no responsive chord in his heart; and 
when the rain pattered upon his roof, liquid with 
beneficent suggestion, he doubtless longed for the sun, 
that he might be abroad, hatching the deep and 
troublous designs to which his ambitions, ingenuity, 
and desire for revenge were constantly urging him, 
while he 

"railed on Fortune in good terms, 
In good set terms. " 

According to the philosophy of Lorenzo, Cleeve 
was a man 

"fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils." 

But his intrigue had carried him past the mark once, 
as we have seen, he was about to set out upon a 
more weighty project for place, power, and profit, 
in which his chances for success were to be enhanced 
by the political disruptions that were shortly to take 
away the prestige of the king, and make England 
a hotbed of civil war. It was near the end of 1642 
that the news of the fight at Worcester between 
Prince Rupert and the Parliamentarians reached 
this side of the water; and it was shortly after that 
Cleeve sailed away to England with the hope that by 



276 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

taking advantage of the prejudice of the Round- 
head for the Episcopal Royahst, he might acquire 
such aid as would enable him to revivify the " broken 
tytle, " as Vines designated the Plough patent, by 
finding a purchaser for the same. Whether he had 
made certain that that particular grant could be 
purchased, or whether he went on the general prin- 
ciple that a man will sell anything provided he gets 
his price, is uncertain. That, however, was his 
business in London; and once there he lost no time 
in making fast friends with the rebels, espousing their 
cause actively, and as well searching out John Dye 
and his associates, such of them as were alive, or the 
heirs of those who had deceased, haggling over terms 
and securing the proper documents of assignment. 
Apparently this was not a difficult matter. The 
Familists had had enough of New England, bringing 
to them, as it had, only financial disaster and legal 
entanglement. 

The battle of Worcester struck the knell of the 
royalism of Charles I, and when the royal prestige 
fell. Gorges tumbled as well. Gorges was a High 
Churchman. His Palatinate of New Somersetshire 
was established to offset with the Church of England 
service the propaganda of Puritan Massachusetts 
Bay. It was the desire of Charles I to build up a 
strong Episcopal influence in these colonies of Gorges, 
and that desire had been fulfilled in so far as Gorges 
could fulfill it, in the face of an adverse Parliament at 
home, and the pofitic Governor Winthrop south of 
the Piscataqua. So it was not strange that Cleeve 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 277 

should turn to the Roundhead interest for aid in 
his schemes. They were his natural ally. It was 
doubtless by reason of that very state of religious 
antagonism that Cleeve found in Colonel Alexander 
Rigby a willing ear. Rigby was one of the coming 
men under the Cromwell regime so soon to be upper- 
most in the direction of English politics. He stood 
well with Parliament, and possessed its confidence 
to a high degree, so that after the first Puritan 
outbreak he was empowered to raise levies for the 
Puritan forces, and, as well, commissioned to lead 
them against the royal strongholds and adherents of 
the king. He won some slight successes, but was 
repulsed at Lathom House, 1644, after which he 
went into temporary retirement. 

It was prior to this event that Cleeve met Rigby. 
The fight at Worcester took place September 23, 
1642, and the sale from John Dye and his associates 
of the Plough patent to Rigby was consummated 
April 7, 1643, a little over a year later. Rigby could 
not have been acquainted with the "unsavory 
reputation" which had come to Cleeve through one 
unsavory channel and another, his unscrupulous 
methods, his litigations with his neighbors, and which 
Governor Winslow of the Plymouth Colony summed 
up in a letter to Winthrop: "As for Mr. Rigby," 
he writes, "if he be so honest good & hopefull an 
instrument as report passeth on him, he hath good 
hap to light on two of the arrantest knaues that ever 
trod on new English shore to be his agents east & 
west, as Cleves & Morton. " 



278 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Morton will be recalled as the "roysterer of Merry 
Mount," who prodded the Pilgrims so unmercifully 
with his wit, and no less annoyance with his merry 
entertainments. Morton was led to write a book. 
He entitled it, "New Enghsh Canaan." He refers 
to Richmond's Island, and takes particular delight 
in rasping and ridicuHng the Puritans with whom it 
is evident he had several bones to pick, and he 
cared less how little meat he left on them; and in 
fact, if one looks at the bones carefully he will find 
what appear to be the prints of a somewhat rabid 
tooth. Of a waggish and withal generous sort with 
his fellows, he has no love for Endicott. He estab- 
lishes the date of his appearance on the scene, — 
"In the Moneth of June, Anno Salutis 1622. It was 
my chaunce to arrive in parts of New England with 
30 servants, and provision of all sorts fit for a plan- 
tation: And whiles our hoases were building, I did 
endeavour to take a survey of the Country: The 
more I looked the more I liked it." 

He set up his house at Merry Mount, which was in 
the eastern portion of what is now the city of Quincy, 
in Massachusetts, where he exercised his ingenuity 
in providing the most hospitable of entertainment, 
into the lively veins of which were injected the subtle 
and insidious dissipations common to the hilarity of 
the dance on the "green," or about the Maypole, 
enlivened by frequent libations to Bacchus, or any 
other heathen deity. Bradford is to be quoted if 
one desires to take a look through the Puritan 
camera. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 279 

Bradford says, " Morton became lord of misrule (at 
Mount Wollaston) and maintained (as it were a 
school of Athisme — quaffing & drinking both wine 
and strong waters in great excess. And, as some 
reported 10 lbs. worth in a morning. They allso 
set up a May-pole, drinldng and dancing aboute it 
many days togither, inviting the Indian women for 
their consorts, dancing and frisking togeather, (like 
so many fairies or furies rather) and worse practises. 
As if they had a new revived and Celebrated the 
feasts of ye Roman Goddess Flora, or ye beasly 
practises of ye Madd Bacchinalians. Morton like- 
wise (to show his poetrie) composed sundry rimes & 
verses, some tending to lasciviousness, and others 
to ye detraction and scandall of some persons, which 
he affixed to this idle or idoll May-pole. They 
chainged allso the name of their place, and in stead of 
calhng it Mounte Wollaston, they call it Marie Mount, 
as if this joyhty would have lasted forever. But 
this continued not long, for after Morton was sent 
for England (as follows to be declared) shortly came 
over that worthy gentleman Mr. John Indecott, 
who brought over a patent under ye broad seall, for 
ye government of ye Massachusetts, who visiting 
those parts caused yt May-polele to be cutt downe, 
and rebuked them for their profannes, and admin- 
ished them to looke ther should be better walking; 
so they now, or others, changed ye name of their 
place againe and called it Mounte Dagen." 

Morton was banished by the Puritans. He re- 
turned in 1629, with Allerton, who had a trading- 



280 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

house on the Kennebeck. He coasted somewhat 
with Allerton, and it was hkely about that time he 
was at Richmond Island, where he fell in ^vith Bagnall, 
and who was no more in love with the Puritans than 
was Morton. Morton was banished in 1630, and 
according to Bradford, "he got free again and writ 
an infamouse & scurillous book against many godly 
and cheefe men of ye countrie ; full of lyes & slanders, 
and fraight with profane calumnies against their 
names and persons, and ye ways of God." 

Morton's book bore the Amsterdam imprint and 
is rare, few copies of it being in existence. Its date 
was 1637. He makes special allusion to Richmond's 
Island, — " There is a very useful stone in the Land 
and as yet there is found out but one place where they 
may be had in the whole Country. Ould Woodman' 
(that was choaked at Plimouth after hee had played 
the unhappy Marks man when hee was pursued by 
a careless fellow that new come into the Land) they 
say labored to get a patent of it himselfe. Hee was 
beloved of many, and had many sonnes, that had a 
minde to engross that commodity. And I cannot 
spie any mention made of it in the woodden prospect. 
Therefore I be gin to suspect his aime ; that it was for 
himselfe, and therefore will I not discover it, it is 
the Stone so much commended by Ovid, because love 
dehghteth to make his habitation in a building of 
those materials where hee advises. Those that seeks 
for love to doe it, Duris in Cotibus illium. 

"This Stone the Salvages doe call Cos, and of 
these (on the North end of Richmond's Island) are 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 281 

store, and those are very excellent for edged tooles. 
I envy not his happiness. I have bin there: viewed 
the place, hked the commodity: but will not plant 
soe Northerly for that, or any other commodity 
that is there to be had." 

This is evidently tipped with a pungent sarcasm, 
and is perhaps written with a purpose to be misleading. 
"New come into" is a reference to John Newcomin, 
who was shot by Bilhngton, and which begat some 
scandal, for Billington was referred to by the Puritans 
as "having shuffled into their company." As for the 
"whetstones," Jocelyn alleges that "tables of slate 
could be got out long enough for a dozen men to sit 
at," but where, he does not say. It may have been 
one of Jocelyn's romancings. 

Among the tales of Morton is that of one of Wes- 
ton's party, who stole the Indians' corn. The Indians 
made complaint, and the thief was apprehended. 
By the laws of the provincial court the punishment 
was death. Morton says, "and the cheifs Com- 
mander of the Company, called a Parliament of all 
his people but those that were sicke and ill at ease." 
The thief was a "lusty fellow" and the court an- 
nounced that an able-bodied man was not to be 
spared, and, " Sayes hee, you all agree that one must 
die, and one shall die, this younge man's cloathes 
we will take off and put upon one, that is old 
and impotent, a sickly person that cannt escape 
death, such is the disease one him confirmed that 
die hee must, put the younge man's cloathes on 
this man and let the sick person be hanged in the 



282 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

others steede : Amen sayes one, and so sayes many 

more." 

Butler makes a fable of the suggestions of Morton 

in "Hudibras": 

"Our brethren of New England use 
Choice malefactors to excuse, 
And hang the guiltless in their stead, 
Of whom the churches have less need, 
As lately happened. In a town 
There lived a cobbler, and but one, 
That out of doctrine could cut, use 
And mend men's lives as well as shoes, 
This precious brother having slain 
In times of peace, an Indian, 
(Not out of malice, but mere zeal, 
Because he was an infidel.) 
The mighty Tottipotimoy 
Sent to our elders an envoy, 
Complaining sorely of the breach 
Of league, held forth by Brother Patch, 
Against the articles in force 
Between both churches, his and ours; 
For which he craved the saints to render 
Into his hands, or hang the offender. 
But they naturally having weighed 
They had no more but him of the trade, 
A man that served them in a double 
Capacity to teach and cobble. 
Resolved to spare him; yet to do, 
The Indian Hoghan Moghan too. 
In partial justice, in Ms stead did 
Hang an ola weaver, that was bed-rid. " 

Morton, one may see, was an unscrupulous wag, and 
there may be some truth in his poetry, which no doubt 
was bad, to so have aroused the ire of the consid- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



283 



erate Bradford. But the satire of Butler is delicious. 
In these days Cleeve would be classed as a dema- 
gogue, a bad man and a trouble monger, notwith- 
standing the modest granite shaft raised to his 
memory and which from its vantage point on the 
eastern promontory of old Casco Neck overlooks the 
scene of his early activities, and as well his evil 
machinations. 




CLIFF WALK, HIGGIN'S BEACH 



This "New English shore" once transferred to 
Rigby became immediately known as the province 
of Ligonia. Dr. Banks queries as to the derivation 
of the word "Ligonia," but supposes "it to be derived 
from the family name of the mother of Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges, viz., Cicely, daughter of Wilham 
Lygon, of Madresfield Court, Great Malvern, Wor- 
cestershire." He says further, "But why Rigby 
and Cleeve should desire to perpetuate the name 



284 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

thus connected with their pohtical rival and pro- 
prietary claimant is difficult to explain." 

Cleeve was a man of specious reasoning. He 
undoubtedly urged on Rigby the integrity of the 
original patent; described in minute detail its settle- 
ments, of which there were several, — the unrest of the 
settlers under the dominant influence, their leanings 
toward the Puritan practices of the Massachusetts 
Bay people, — and no doubt he dwelt upon the sym- 
pathy and interest the Puritan outbreak in the home 
country had aroused. He must have alluded to the 
initial expense of promoting so prosperous a state of 
affairs, and as well emphasized the fact that that 
part of the original investment was well taken care 
of; for the settlements were well able to take care of 
themselves, and that the rents and profits would 
readily and surely come to hand. These were un- 
doubtedly the inducements that appealed to Rigby; 
yet how he could shut his eyes to the moral rights 
of others who had earned the privilege to their 
holdings, and who had received their titles in good 
faith, and had improved upon them so they had 
become self-supporting, can be explained only by 
the fact that at that tim^ Rigby's occupation was 
the sequestrating of the estates of the friends of the 
Royahst, Charles. He had httle sympathy for 
Episcopalians, and it may have appeared to him as 
a profitable speculation, calling for only so much 
ready money as would suffice to satisfy the Familists. 
How much that was is not recorded, but it was likely 
a very small amount. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 285 

All this resulted in Cleeve's return in the early fall 
of 1643, bringing with him a commission as deputy 
president of Ligonia. One can readily paint the 
knavish exultation that gave alertness to his tread 
as he went aboard ship to sail away to Boston, 
and the oozing of his degenerate courage as he 
sighted the gray ledges of old Agamenticus towering 
above the shores of old York. The embers of his 
conscience were not wholly dead, and he could but 
reahze the despicable character of his errand to 
London, and, hke a child in the dark, he was afraid 
to go home alone; for, once in Boston, he appealed 
to Winthrop for his moral and active support in the 
dilemma in which he found himself, — that of a man 
armed with a rebel's commission founded upon a 
spurious title, and soon to be in the heart of a loyal 
and royalist community, and moreover, a community 
that rated him at his exact worth. 

Winthrop, wary and pohtic, submitted Cleeve's 
proposition to the colonial authorities, and the 
General Court voted, September 7, 1643, that it was 
" no meete to write to y*^ eastward about M*". Cleaves, 
according to his desire." But it is a matter of fact 
that Winthrop wrote Vines, deputy governor at 
Saco, in behalf of Rigby, unofficially. Winthrop did 
not care to be openly identified with Cleeve, as it was 
not like to suit his ultimate purposes, which were 
the eventual appropriation of the Maine province to 
the aggrandizement of Massachusetts. 

Cleeve went on to Casco, where he found his Rod- 
erigo patiently awaiting, there to fume and fret at the 



286 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

impotency of his demands upon Vines. He employed 
Tucker at once in the securing of signatures to a 
memorial to the Winthrop government proposing 
an alUance against the "ffrench and Indians, and 
other enemyes," but it was a futile endeavor. Cleeve 
was as vituperative as ever, Gorges and his friends 
being the objects of his hvely spleen. 

In this regard, it is interesting to refer to a con- 
temporary letter of Vines at this point, as illustrative 
of Cleeve' s activity in this following year, 1644. He 
writes: "2 dayes before our Court (Cleeve) tooke a 
voiage into the bay, and all the way as he went from 
Pascataquack to Boston, he reported that he was 
goeing for ayde against me, for that I had threatened 
him and his authority, to beate him out of this 
Province. By this false report and many other 
the like I am held an enemy to justice and piety. I 
proffesse unto you ingenuously, I never threatened 
him directly nor indirectly, neither haue I seen him 
since he camme out of England. I haue suffered him 
to passe quietly through our plantation, and to lodge 
in it, although I haue bin informed that he was then 
plotting against me. I am troubled at these seditious 
proceedings; and much more at his most notorious 
scandalls of Sir fferdinando Gorges, a man for his 
age and integrity worthy of much honor; him he 
brandes with the foule name of traytor by circum- 
stance, in reporting that he hath counterfeited the 
king's broade scale (if he haue any patent for the 
Province of Mayne) ffor, says he, I haue searched all 
the Courts of Record, and can finde noe such grant. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 287 

How could he haue given that graue Knight a deeper 
wound in his reputacion, the which I know is more 
deare to him then all the wealth in America; he 
likewise maynetaynes his false report of death, fflight 
into Walles, not with standing a letter dated the 
25th of 1 ber last, from a marchant of London, of 
very good credit, and brought in Mr. Payne his ship, 
which letter imports Sir fferdinando Gorges his good 
health with the restauracion of his possessions 
agayne." 



V 




CAPE PORPOISE 



Cleeve was sufficiently endowed with persistence of 
a low order, that kind affected by the modern ward- 
heeler, but when it came to dealing with a gentleman 
of the Vines school he was as much at sea as a ship 
without a rudder. He was out-classed, handicapped, 
and Cleeve knew it; and Winthrop, as well; and 
Winthrop with his discernment of men knew Vines 
for the better neighbor despite the latter' s lean- 
ings toward Episcopacy, abhorrent to him as they 
were. 

Cleeve held his first court at Casco, March 25, 



288 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

1643-4. He announced his government as extend- 
ing ''from Sackadehock to Cape Porpoise, being 
aboue 13 leagues in lenght. " He nominated com- 
missioners and a " colonell-generall. " Before this 
court was convened, Cleeve sent a communication to 
Vines offering to submit the question of jurisdiction 
to the magistrates of Massachusetts. 

Here was a chance for Roderigo to rouse Braban- 
tio's household: 

" Rod. 'What, ho, Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho!' 
lago. 'Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! 

thieves! 
Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! 

thieves! ' " 

The bearer of this message was Tucker who was 
apparently a docile tool, and whom Cleeve set afloat 
when his dirty work had been cleaned up, and who 
aroused Brabantio so thoroughly that Vines promptly 
placed Tucker in arrest to later bind him over to 
next court at Saco on a warrant for "abusive 
language." Being unable to procure bail, he was 
held in durance over night, but the next morning 
was released on his own recognizance. 

The objection was not so much to the title to the 
soil as to the sovereignty. The title to the soil was 
conceded by Gorges to Rigby, and doubtless, with 
any other intermediary than Cleeve, the matter 
could have been settled amicably. Rigby's character 
was of a notably high order, and Gorges was willing 
to do everything to promote colonization and the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 289 

welfare of the colonists. Vines voices these senti- 
ments in a letter to Winthrop in which he classes 
Cleeve among the " incendiaries. " After 1644, Rigby 
had drawn up a constitution for his province which 
was "confirmed by the Earle of Warwick & others 
the Commissioners appointed by Parliament for 
Foreign Plantations," but it afforded little advantage 
to Cleeve, who spent his time in mustering to his 
interest every recruit possible. Naturally he would 
obtain the adherence of those dwellers in the vicinity 
of Casco Bay, but Vines could count upon Arthur 
Mack worth and others of like prominence at Casco, 
while the leading planters of Scarborough, Saco and 
the westward settlements upheld the Gorges govern- 
ment. Mackworth was personally threatened by 
Cleeve with personal violence, so deeply was Cleeve 
exasperated and irritated by Mackworth's friendli- 
ness to his old friend Vines. 

Any danger of personal injury was obviated by 
the prompt intervention of the court at Saco, which 
caused Cleeve to be warned that Mackworth must 
not be disturbed by either himself or his lawless 
followers; and the truculent Cleeve wisely, and 
doubtless reluctantly, abstained from resolving Mack- 
worth into original dust. Mackworth was a man of 
too high a mark and of too notable a hospitality, a 
gentleman, and a scholar, withal, to be the sport of 
Cleeve's humor or brutality. 

Robert Jordan, the Episcopal clergyman who mar- 
ried a daughter of John Winter, was likewise a thorn 
in the tender side of the Casco Bay politician, and if 



290 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

he inherited John Winter's estate, he became as 
well the residuary legatee of all the rancour, enmity, 
and covetous surveillance between the former in his 
lifetime and the Casco Bay agitator; nor was the 
Rev. Robert Jordan a whit behind his deceased 
father-in-law in wit or shrewdness in meeting the 
subtle and unscrupulous methods of the cockle-like 
Cleeve. Words, like the sea in the storm, ran high 
to smite here or there, to fall back into their trough 
of foam like broken waters. Cleeve's favorite appel- 
lation for Jordan was "minister of anti-christ, " and 
"prelatticall counsellar, " only to appoint him to an 
associate justiceship on his own bench later. Jor- 
dan's opposition to this rabid agent of Rigby was 
reenforced by the activities of his neighbor, the 
gentlemanly Henry Jocelyn, who was soon to succeed 
Vines as deputy governor of the Gorges Province. 

It was about this time, 1645, the discovery was 
made that in 1643 Cleeve had forged the signatures 
of nine of his neighbors to a petition to Parhament 
to appoint a commission to investigate Vines' admin- 
istration as deputy governor. The Commission, 
made up of Winthrop, Mackworth, and Bode, refused 
to act, and the nine planters against whom Cleeve 
had committed the forgeries, of whom Mackworth 
Was one, deposed in court that they were ignorant 
of the matter contained in the "Petition," declaring 
" that they neither saw nor knew of said articles until 
the said George Cleeves did come last out of Eng- 
land," also, they "could not testify any such things 
as are exhibited in the said petition." This, under 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 291 

oath, was sufficient to nail the responsibility for the 
"petition." 

It would not be supposed that this denouement 
of Cleeve's rascality would elevate him in the opinion 
of the province, for, that the forgery, wholesale in 
its influence, was an act growing out of utter moral 
degeneracy, considering its object, which was nothing 
less than the corruption of Parliament, and the 
loading with disgrace and contumely of an honest 
conscientious servant and an upright man. If ever 
forgery was a heinous crime, it was in this particular 
case, and, but for the assumed powers of Cleeve 
as Rigby's deputy president, Cleeve would have 
suffered the penalty of the law. That he committed 
this grave offense advisedly, is confirmed by his 
naive confession, "the Parliament bid him doe it." 

Cleeve made but little headway with his dis- 
estabUshmentarian projects against the powers that 
were in the province, yet he was still busy plotting. 
He kept Winthrop constantly stirred up, and from 
Massachusetts Bay eastward bubbles of his foment- 
ing were continually finding their way to the surface 
of events; and he so succeeded in wearying Vines 
with his hornet-Uke attentions that Gorges' deputy 
governor quit the contest in disgust, and the shores 
of the Saco, alike, leaving Jocelyn to keep Cleeve 
at bay as best he could. 

The new governor of the Gorges Province, sustained 
by Bonighton, Jordan and Mackworth, prepared anew 
for the wordy fray; for so far the war had been one 
of words only. At the Quarterly Sessions of the 



292 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

fall of 1645, it was voted to forthwith "apprehend 
Cleaves and Tuckar & to subdue the rest vnto their 
obedience." A company of militia was organized 
for offensive and defensive purposes, and "fitted, 
themselves with bilbows & ordained Captain Bony- 
thon, Colonel-General." This coming to the ear 
of Cleeve, after a conference with his councilors 
Royall, Tucker and Purchas, he called on Winthrop 
in his alarm for protection, and a quotation from 
Cleeve' s letter to Winthrop at this point is of 
interest. 

He writes Winthrop: "The heads of this league 
are Mr. Henry Jocelyn, Mr. Arthur Mackworth, & 
Ffrancis Robinson, which Mr. Mackworth did will- 
ingly submit to Mr. Rigbyes authority formerly, and 
did subscribe to his constitucions, & received a 
Commission from him to be an Assistant & acted by 
it till he was drawne away by the perswaysion of 
Mr. Vines and Mr. Jorden, (one vnworthily called 
a minister of Christ). From these two men all this 
evill doth principally flowe, for though Mr. Vines be 
now gone, yet he hath presumed to depute Mr. 
Jocelyn in his stead, although he never had any 
Commission soe to doe; yet he, by the councell of Mr. 
Jorden, hath taken vpon him, as a lawful Magistrate 
to come into Casco Bay & hath gone from house to 
house, being accompanied with Ffrancis Robinson & 
Arthur Mackworth & have discouraged the people of 
Ligonia, & drawne them offe, some by fraude & some 
by force, from their subjection to Mr. Rigbys lawfull 
authority; contrary to their oathes freely and will- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 293 

ingly taken, a true coppy whereof is herewith sent. 
And have alsoe presumed to take deposicions of 
severall people to accuse some of vs falsely and 
slanderously with treason & other crimes, whereof 
we are innocent; intending vpon those grounds to 
deale with vs at theire pleasure, and thus we are 
all destined by them vnto destruction, if the Lord 
prevent not their wicked plotts against vs." 

Winthrop laughed in his sleeve, perhaps, as he 
read this speciously wrought epistle, and, instead of 
sending troops to keep the peace in Cleeve's hmited 
domain, wisely divided his attentions between the 
belhgerents, wilhng to let the internecine conflict 
go on, with or without carnage, as it might happen. 
He replied to Cleeve: "the differences grew vpon 
extent of some Patents & right of Jurisdiction 
wherein Mr. Rigby & others in E(ngland) are inter- 
ested & letters have been sent to them from both 
partyes, & answer is expected by first return, there- 
vpon we have thought it expedient to perswade you 
bothe to forbeare any further contention in the 
meane tyme, & have written to Mr. Jocelin &c to 
that ende, who having desired our advice, we may 
presume that they will observe the same, & wall not 
attempt any acts of hostihty against you; we doubt 
not but you wilbe perswaded to the same; which we 
judge will conduce most to Mr. Rigbys right, and 
your owne & your neighbors peace." 

It is easy to glean from this letter wherein Win- 
throp's sympathies lay. He favored the interest of 
Rigby, but at no time before, or even then, was he 



294 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

prepared to assume the guardianship of Rigby's 
unpopular representative, or the interests under his 
charge. Winthrop read the times aright, realizing 
that the Rigby influence would prevail, with the 
influence of Gorges eliminated, and the royal pro- 
tection withdrawn, with Cromwell "on the box." 

The result was that Jocelyn ruled at Saco, while 
Cleeve kept feeble sway at Casco, a state of affairs 
that prevailed until the following March, 1646, on 
the last when Cleeve convened the Assembly for the 
province of Ligonia at that place to which Governor 
Jocelyn attended, with his mihtia, but not with the 
bloodthirsty intent anticipated by Cleeve. The 
Rev. Thomas Jenner, designated by Wilhs, as the 
first minister of the Puritan faith to be settled in 
Maine, and who stepped into the shoes of the Epis- 
copal Richard Gibson when he left the Saco Parish, 
was present at this court at Casco. His relation to 
Winthrop of the incidents of that richly humorous 
occasion are not to be improved upon. 

He writes : 

" To the Right Worshipfull his very worthy friend 
Jo: Wintrop Esq. & Deputy Gouernor of N. E. at his 
house in Boston give theise. 

Right Worshipfull, — My due respects remembered 
to you. This is to informe you (according to request 
made vnto me, both by Mr. Jocelyne & Mr. Cleeve) 
that in Cascoe Bay on the last of March the major 
part of the Province of Lygonia meet together, at an 
intended Court of Mr. Cleeve. Mr. Jocelyne & his 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 295 

company came armed with gunes & swords, or both; 
Mr. Cleeve & his company vnarmed. After sermon 
was ended, Mr. Joselyne & his company separated 
themselues about a furlong from Mr. Cleeve & his 
company. They sent vnto Mr. Cleeve a demand in 
writing (with all their hands subscribed,) to haue a 
sight at his riginals, promising a safe returne. After 
some hesitation & demur, Mr. Cleeve, vpon condition 
they would come together into one place, promised 
to gratify them. The which being pubHckely read 
& scanned, the next morneing Mr. Jocelyne & his 
company deUuered vnto Mr. Cleeve in writinge, with 
all their hands subscribed, a Protest against Mr. 
Righbies authority of gouerment, that is to say, in 
any part of that bound or tract of land which Mr. 
Cleeve doth challeng by vertue of his Patent, viz. 
from sgcadehock River to Cape Porpus. They 
furthermore required & injoined Mr. Cleave & his 
company to submit themselues vnto the authority 
and gouerment derived from Sir Fferdinando Gorges, 
& that for the future they addresse themselues vnto 
their Courts. 

Lastly they demanded of Mr. Cleeve a friendly 
triall concerneing the bounds afore sayd, ffor Mr. 
Jocelyne would that Mr. Cleeve his terminus a quo 
should begin 60 miles vp Chenebec River, because 
the Patent saith, it must lie neere two Hands which 
are about 60 miles from the sea. Ffor answer to 
it the Patent also saith, the tract of land of 40 miles 
square, must Ue on the south side of Sacadehock- 
River. 



Nv>\v 8«H"'nvlv^h\>cK nnor u\\ol\oil\ l>\i( tv> Movry 
Mivlin^, 0^ (l\on itv^* hmwoluni into Wgi|vv\HM. v^ 
CUcuoKh^, \I^ i» uo fvuihor oaki by lUo umwo of 8aoh- 
ilo1vv>ok. Now K'U\'ulohook U\\vr if* « i^>r(muo jvnd 
«iivnv ^>huv (or oi\o Umw v^f it?* U>\\»uk«i, hu( tUo Ihvuvlji 
mi' viv>vil>il\ilk wUu^U ihoymv; luoiv omx^ lUor |hv*- 

»\^vi\ly 5\\vvj>IihI ll\oir otYor of » (rirtU M VVvviow; 
whowvjvMv ikoy lv(h K>vuv\i (luniv?i!i^Uu^?« i^oU to 
i^tli^i* lu » lH\t\vl of MM> li. [Hn>\MUvll>»^ to ap^H^tx^ at 
Ikv^ton t\u^ uo\t (\>v\rt aftor May* thou atkl tWr to 
invpk^^vU^ i^o\v otUoi\ 

olaUu^si oKnlknuVv a\ui tokl tluM' wi^.s no tn^vwlity 
Ix^twwHio Ui«i ^\^uK^Uill^^ v<t thoir iiolUiiig. It w^^? 

?^Uouki. at a^vv tuuo v>r v^hxu at\,v ov^-^?^kM\» W tiVuiNUnl 
vxr nuxkv'^tKHl l\v a<vv of tUo otUor i^rty or ovu\nmii>t% 
vutil \\\<' m\{ afxn\M^>\l Ih* otuk\ls 

M^ Ckvu<^ la>^\l lu« iivj^^^t'ti^^^^ *^^ ^>art4<(^ukr ou Mrv 
Joi\ia«. wonor UHMx^ avJu\inWtor t\\o «^k"^ of tho 
V\>\Tniat\t pl\^uu^\nlovl?sl^\^ v't withovit dvio oixWr ^^ 
oMiuatioUx \\ntl\u\ tU«? l^\Anu<j<& of Lj^n^ias 

t uvw^t \\o<hI* a\^kuow4iHl,«>?, to tUoir \\i^\ ovmwiu^^u- 
Kiativxu. t\\at KMh Mt\ yKv(vl>kn\^ v^ Mi\ CWiti^ oaminl 
ou t\\o itviTn^^ctiou \^vy fwiull\\ Uk\^ \wu of \vi?i\ivMuo 

t\>^xM)\o\\ j'VioU wax'* tho ^v^wx^r vxf invlV Uol>k^ \\\n\l. 
a\\x>u^ th't^ir \u^n^ Voviv lotlxn^ vsxnx^ al^> wny 
\^l<?x v^ gt^tt'fvUl^v aov>E^^>tx^ ott IvtU parti^i!!^ Tliu« 



THE SO KG K I TRAIL 297 

after two or three daies agitation, each man departed 
very peacably to his own home. 

Thus, right worthy Sir, according to the trust 
committed to me, I haue faithfully (though rudly) 
composed the chiefe matters in that their transac- 
tion, & haue here sent them vnto you. So I comit 
you to God & rest. 

Yours to command 

Tho:Jenner." 

Saco, 6, 2m. 46. 

Cleeve and Jocelyn fulfilled their bonds to the 
letter, and the "tryall" was had at Boston. The 
jury returned a non liquet, with a recommendation to 
the parties litigant, to await the decision of the 
Commissioners for Foreign Plantations, of which the 
Earl of Warwick seemed to be the leading spirit, and 
which Commission on the 27th of March gave judg- 
ment to Rigby, and the persistent Cleeve, with the 
Lygonia Province a fact, de jure el de }ado, began his 
brief supremacy. Gorges was dead. Charles had 
been beheaded. The English Commonwealth was 
firmly in the saddle, with Cleeve on the Rigby 
crupper. In 1650, the news came over the water of 
the death of Rigby, and following it came the attempt 
to oust Cleeve who had more enemies than friends, 
and the disorder consequent upon an attempt to 
establish an independent government, such as this 
was. 

This was followed by the departure of Cleeve for 
England where with Mr. Edward Rigl)y he consulted 



298 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

as to the turn to be taken in their affairs. It was 
now the turn of Massachusetts to take advantage of 
the mild anarchy of the province, which she did by 
at once assuming the governmental direction of the 
settlements of Maine. Cleeve returned from Eng- 
land in the early part of 1653 to find the jurisdiction 
of Massachusetts extended to include the Saco settlers, 
after which time until 1658 he made a pretense of 
power, and kept up a form of government at Casco. 
Even then the conscience of England had begun to 
quicken toward the son of Charles I who was waiting 
across the Dover straits for the cry to come over 
into Macedonia. The submission east of the Saco 
practically concludes the story of what Vines was 
pleased to term " a broken tytle. " 

Dr. Banks sums up: "Thus after a turbulent 
infancy of three years and an almost pulseless exist- 
ence of thirteen years, the Province of Lygonia by 
submission of its freemen 13 July, 1658, to the 
authority of the Province of Massachusetts, completed 
its short but interesting career." 

From the beginning, its charter rights had depended 
upon a most specious interpretation of its charter 
provisions, and one does not need to speculate or 
conjecture the original purpose underlying the 
apparent obliquity of Rigby, the persistent dis- 
honesty of Cleeve who preferred a muddy to a clear 
stream for his fishing, or the wary, cat-like footfall 
of Winthrop as he followed the rougher tracks of 
these two. The plotting was as persistent, nor had 
it all been germinated in the soil about Cascoe. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



299 



Winthrop halloed, "'St, boy!" only too frequently, 
and Cleeve, like the farm dog, went at his chasing 
the cattle around the Lygonia pasture, while Win- 
throp sat on the pasture wall and just whittled. 




Massachusetts alone profited out of all these 
acrobatics of Cleeve, and with the purchase of the 
Gorges title from the Gorges heirs, which title had 
been reaffirmed by the High Court of England upon 
the restoration of Charles II, thereby annulling the 
Rigby title and making all acts under it invahd, it 



300 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

acquired a large and valuable accession of territory 
and taxable area. It had brought to Gorges bank- 
ruptcy; to Rigby only expense and annoyance; to 
Cleeve a ragged and disreputable character. There 
seemed to be a fatality always being twisted into the 
fibre of its incident, and it is a sufficient commentary 
on Cleeve's connection with the enterprise to note 
that in his latter days he was in sore need of friends 
and means. He died poor, for all his extensive 
holdings of lands about beautiful Casco; and it was 
a great fall from that day when, master of all Lygonia, 
perhaps with Gloucester, he may have exclaimed, 

" Now is the winter of our discontent 
Made happy, " 

by a Puritan parliament, and he was to wield un- 
limited power over those he formerly chose to term 
his enemies. Winter, however, was beyond his 
reach. Robert Jordan, the "minister of antichrist," 
and Henry Jocelyn became his assistants. They, 
with others, 

"Maken vertue of necessitie," 

yielded as gracefully as they might, lowering their 
heads to avoid the beam. 

What a profound contempt, however, must the 
well-bred and gentlemanly Joceljm have had for 
Cleeve, under-bred, uneducated other than by cir- 
cumstances, whose instincts, grossly degenerate, had 
made of him a self-confessed forger and sub-borner! 
Cleeve must have realized this, clothed as he was 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 301 

with the amplitude of power, as he presided on the 
provincial bench, a weak dilution of Jeffries' arrog- 
ance without the latter's spinal cord. 

In this relation the author has had almost con- 
stantly in mind these Unes of that well of EngUsh, 
good old Chaucer, — 

"Who so shall telle a tale after a man, 
He moste reherse, as neighe as ever he can, 
Everich word, if it be in his charge, 
All speke he never so rudely and so large ; 
Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe, 
Of feinen thinges, or finden wordes newe. " 

However acutely Chaucer may apply, it is a true 
tale subtly tinged with all the color of a romance, 
while the recalUng of its incidents has been only the 
putting of old wine into new bottles. 




THE ROMANCE OF BLACK POINT 










10: }„ 



^m- >■ '■'/ n/ ^*^^"^- .f i Bimihn fiver 



THE ROMANCE OF BLACK POINT 







HE romance of old Scar- 
borough, the hunting- 
ground of Mogg, of Scit- 
terygusset, of Squanto ; 
the traditional environ- 
ment of Farmer Garvin's 
cabin; the playground of 
the wildling beauty, Ruth 
Bonython, was begun 
when the first smokes of 
Richmond's Island blew inland over the swaying 
marshes, to follow the silver thread of the Spurwink 
through the tawny arras that widened out miles, up 
and down the low shores that held the uplands 
apart from the sea. 

In the days of Richard Bradshaw, the first to hold 
title to any of its fair lands, of Cleeve, of Tucker, 
and of Winter with his rude crew of fishermen, it 
was a wilderness, once within the shag of verdure 
that crowned its higher levels. For a generation 
after, counting down from 1630, it was but here or 
there along their outer edge one might discover a 

305 



306 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

stack of hay, a patch of maize, a low roof, with per- 
haps an idly-flapping sail against the river bank, 
unless over on Black Point there might be discerned 
the huddle of smokes that betrayed the settlement of 
Captain Thomas Cammock. 

It was prior to 1630 that John Stratton came here, 
for the name of Stratton had been fastened upon the 
islands off Black Point for a considerable interval 
of time before Captain Thomas Cammock procured 
his grant of fifteen hundred acres of Black Point lands, 
to begin at once his considerable settlement here- 
about. Before 1630, here was a resort of the Eng- 
lish fisherman, where was gathered from the sea a 
lucrative harvest; for it was off these shores the 
best and most profitable fishing grounds were located, 
where, at all seasons of the year, almost, after the 
first voyage of Smith, an English sail might have 
been sighted plying this adventurous industry. 

There was a fishing stage at the mouth of the Pisca- 
taqua at the Isles of Shoals, and an earlier one that 
looked out over the Monhegan waters. This of the 
Scarborough shore came about midway. Of this 
industry. Prince, an annahst of the times, says, as 
early as 1624, "the fishing-fleet in these waters 
counted fifty sail." It will be recalled that it was 
in 1623-4 that Christopher Levett collected here- 
about, the material for his "Voyage into New Eng- 
land." He made himself famiUar with the waters 
about the mouth of the Saco, and he describes Scar- 
borough River, old Owascoag, "about six miles to 
eastward," and he says, "there hath been more fish 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 307 

taken within two leagues of this place this year, than 
on any other in the lands." Naturally, faniiharity 
with these waters would beget familiarity with their 
shores. 

Others coming hither after him must have been 
impressed with the possibiUties of this new land 
which was apparently open to promiscuous occu- 
pation. Here was an excellent soil, well-disposed, 
and of virgin fertility and covered with virgin 
timber huge of shaft and of mighty proportions, 
within the mysteries of which the secluded haunts 
of the beaver, the otter, and numerous other of the 
fur tribes of North America were later to be levied 
upon for the building up of the initial commerce 
between the old and New World. These earliest 
fishermen were more or less engaged in the fur trade. 
As bale after bale of choice furs found its way across 
the water, the cupidities of men were aroused, and 
regular trading stations for the gathering of furs were 
estabhshed. The Indian was the aboriginal trapper, 
and for all the simplicity of his methods his harvest 
for a brief period was an abundant one. The trader 
was most always possessed of the requisite streak of 
eye-singleness, and too often of the commercial kin 
of Walter Bagnall who was not long in paying the 
penalty of his greed. English rum became the 
staple of the fur barter, but with every year the 
harvest of furs became smaller, until a year or two 
after John Winter's plantation had become solidly 
established he wrote Trelawny that prospects of fur 
trade for the future were of the most discouraging 



308 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

character. For the sustaining of a commerce with 
the home country fishing became compulsory, and 
it was carried on for a generation after Cammock's 
coming with great profit and a corresponding 
energy. 

At the time of the Cammock Grant, 1631, "Strat- 
ton's Hands" were well known. They are referred 
to in Cammock's Grant to mark down the locaUty; 
and it is safe to assume that these islands were 
inhabited as a part of old Scarborough for a consid- 
erable time before Bagnall's intrusion upon the 
verdurous silences and grape-scented slopes of Rich- 
mond's Island. John Stratton's coming hither is 
more likely to have been contemporary with the com- 
ing of George Richmon. It may be assumed that 
their occupancy followed closely upon the heels of 
Levett. Stratton may have come from the Isle of 
Shoals, or he may have been one of the ten men left 
by Levett at his house on House Island, when he 
sailed away to solicit the aid of Charles in building up 
his new city of York. The mainland adjacent to 
these islands was known as "Stratton's Plantation" 
before Cammock's advent, and doubtless this designa- 
tion of the country hereabout was originated among 
the fishermen who had become acquainted with John 
Stratton, and had perhaps enjoyed the rude hospital- 
ities of his island cabin. But little is known of this 
first comer, or rather first settler, over against the 
odorous flats of old Scarborough. Of his personal 
history hardly a shred is left. That he was of the 
indifferent sort is apparent, else he would have left 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 309 

somewhat of an account of his time, and yet it may- 
be that his isolation precluded even that. He was 
living in Scarborough as late as 1641. Much specu- 
lation has been indulged in as to whence he came, 
all of which is shrouded in conjecture. It is not 
impossible that he may have been of the Popham 
contingent, wandering down from Sabino after the 
desertion of that locality by Gilbert's men. Whence 
he may have drifted hither, however, or whenever 
he may have reached Stratton Island is beyond the 
reach of the most industrious antiquary, for it is 
safe to allege he is but twice or thrice referred to in 
the old records. Perhaps the only direct reference, 
from a local point of view, is contained in the records 
of a court held at Saco, March 25, 1636, viz., "It is 
peticioned per Mr. Ed: Godfrey that an attachment 
might be of one Brass Kettell now in the hands of 
Mr. Ed: Godfrey wch were belonging to Mr. John 
Straten of a debt due now 3 yeares from Mr. Straten 
to him ... the sd Kettell to be answerable to the suit 
of Mr: Godfrey against next Court to show cause for not 
pament.^' Brass kettles were an enviable possession 
in those days, as may be said of any other sort, down 
to a shallow skillet. This man, Stratton, is men- 
tioned in the original charter of Wells ; so that such an 
individual was commorant of the locality, at a very 
early date, is indisputable. 

It was a beautiful and an unpaintable picture or 
a series of pictures stretched along this natural 
gallery from the hazy headlands of Cape Elizabeth 
to the knob of Cape Porpoise, when the sun rose out 



310 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



of the sea in the east to flood the salt creeks with 
molten silver and light up the softly undulating 
saffron of the steaming marshes — the marshes that 




run from the 
black ooze of 
the sea rim into 
the dusky 
shadows of the wooded 
wilderness miles inland 
even in these later days 
And the salt creeks, 
rivers rather, that had 
their birth among the 
mysteries of these black 
barriers of spruce and 
pine dripping here and 
there from the silver spindle of some hidden spring to 
find for its slender trickling thread the sheltering 
coolness of the marsh grasses under the lee of Scottow's 
Hill, or to gleam and scintillate between the sedgy 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 311 

barrens that hemmed the edge of old Owascoog, when 
Levett came upon it, swathed in snow, or to keep to 
the uncertain trail of the sinuous Nonsuch that leans 
to the eastward to throw its glistening arm about 
Winnock's Neck, and after all find the same outlet 
into the sea; or still farther toward the sunrise, 
beyond the pines of Front's Neck to where the Spur- 
wink of Cleeve and Tucker ebbs and flows with a like 
inconsistency or foams over its shallow sand-bar — 
these were the only highways inland, that, like the 
veins along the back of a human hand, made the Hfe 
currents that ran up and down this flat maze of color. 
Here was a wide reach of open lands, carpeted with 
the yielding tapestry of the riant marsh weeds, 
sounding myriads of the color tones in Nature, 
softly alluring to the eye and consonant with the 
yielding courses of its water ways whose devious 
directions are suggestive of the ways of the ruminant 
herd across the tussocked pasture. Here w^re the 
hayfields of the early settler, and they stretched 
away to beyond the Alger Creek where Col. Thomas 
Westbrook had a mill, and still northward, past 
this same ancient Scottow's Hill, narrowing to a 
point where the woods converged, the dusky silences, 
where, a generation later, the sachem of the Sacoes and 
the crafty and unregenerate Bonython plotted over 
their stoups of English rum — the one for Mogg's 
hunting grounds, and the other for Scamman's 
scalp and the fair Ruth Bonython who was to weave 
anew the tragedy of Jael and Sisera. 
The winding streams that broke apart or seamed 



312 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

these broad masses of color, the wide marshes that 
rose and fell like the yellow scum of a huge bowl, the 
bleached sands and their overhanging shags of awe- 
some woods, the uneasy tides, and over all the blue 
dome of the sky, all these made up the pictures that 
with each recurrent dawn limned for John Stratton — 

A low black wall at ebb tide, 

A yellow sea at flood. 
Stretching and shrinking to northward, 

The salt marsh against the wood, — 

while the waterfowl wrote across the slant rays of 
the sun the hieroglyphics of its erratic flight. The 
offshore winds were laden with the spices of an unex- 
plored Cathay, mayhap faintly suggestive of the 
creosotes distilled by the fires of a nomad Sokoki, 
or subtly tempered by the savory incense of the flats 
left bare by the receding waters. There was a 
smell of the wild grape blossom, deliciously, intoxi- 
catingly sweet ; and, when the ruddy-cheeked autumn 
had come, the more delicate scents of the pendant, 
ripening, clustered fruitage swept across the inter- 
vening emerald from the Isle of Bacchus on the 
moist winds that came from far beyond old Pema- 
quid. 

Whether Stratton noted the panorama that put 
on a new countenance with every shifting light, to 
read from it the story of the signs and the seasons, one 
never may know. 

As one has seen, the English history of these 
Scarborough lands, once a part of the Gorges palat- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 313 

inate, began with the occupation of Stratton's 
Island, and Champlain's Isle of Bacchus, known by 
the more plebeian cognomen of Richmond's Island. 
It was on these two islands that the leaven of coloni- 
zation was planted, for here, and along the levels 
of Black Point, one finds the nucleii of what came 
after. Nor has one to wait very long, for soon, 
beside Owascoag's 

"tranquil flood 
The dark and low-walled dwellings stood, 
Where many a rood of open land 
Stretched up and down on either hand, 
With corn-leaves waving freshly green 
The thick and blackened stumps between, 
Behind, unbroken, deep and dread, 
The wild untra veiled forest spread. 
Back to those mountains, white and cold. 
Of which the Indian trapper told. 
Upon whose summits never yet 
Was mortal foot in safety set. " 

This was the picture to break on the vision of the 
voyager of Cammock's day, and for long days after- 
ward; but nowadays one sees, looking over the low 
dusky fohage of the Norway pines that find pre- 
carious nourishment along the porous sands of 
Front's Neck, 

" Behind them, marshes, seamed and crossed 
With narrow creeks, and flower-embossed, 
Stretched to the dark oak wood whose leafy arms 
Screened from the east the pleasant inland farms 



314 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



At full of tide their bolder shore 

Of sun-bleached sand the waters beat; 

At ebb, a smooth and glistening floor 
They touched with hght, receding feet. 

Northward, a green blutY broke the chain 
Of sand-hills: southward stretched a j^lain 

Of salt-grass, with a river winding down,'' 

as it did in the days when INIitton and Caninioek and 
Jocelyn awoke its silences with a rattk^ of musket- 
shots, while the wild geese, the ducks, and the young 




CONFLUENCE OF DUNSTAN AND NONSUCH RIVERS 

flappers went scurrying up, down and across these 
levels of salt-grass to finally fade away in the maze 
of the Spurwink over and beyond ^^'innock's Neck. 
To Thomas Cammock is due the settlement on the 
mainland, and it was doubtless from his settlement 
that the extensive areas of ancient Scarborough were 
developed and wrought into farming lands. Of the 
settlement at Stratton's Island but a single dweUing 
remains to tell the tale of its former importance. 
The same is true of Richmond's Island, ^^'hatever 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 315 

of human interest they once possessed is hedged 
about by tradition. Cammock was a kinsman of the 
Earl of Warwick, as has so many times been asserted 
by one historian and another, a nephew. He was a 
favorite, else he would have been unUkely to have 
secured so large a grant of the most desirable lands 
along the New Somersetshire coast. He came over 
with Enghsh ideas. He thought to estabhsh a 
feudal sovereignty. He leased his lands, and his 
tenants built and farmed or fished, and paid their 
rents. Cammock was a man whose first care was of 




o^ 



and for his own. He does not appear to have been 
at any time interested in the politics of the province, 
and it is a fact borne out by the only instance of his 
office holding, wherein he acted as commissioner for 
the province of New Somersetshire in 1636. Other 
than this, very Httle has come down from which 
much is known of him. He sold some of his land, and 
the remainder he disposed of to his friend Henry 
Jocelyn, reserving a fair share for his wife, and then 
he sailed away to the West Indies where he died. 
This was in 1643. Jocelyn came to Black Point to 



J 



316 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

make his home with Cammock in 1635. It was a 
modern case of David and Jonathan. After a 
reasonable period of mourning, Mrs. Cammock 
became the wife of Jocelyn, which suggests something 
of a romance akin to that of Michael Mitton and 
Elizabeth Cleeve over at Casco Neck. This wooing 
of the widow by Jocelyn is one of the green spots in 
those days of strenuous hving, when there was but 
little time for the soft dalliance of Love. Life was 
crude. Its household appliances were of the scant 
tale that made only the primitive foods possible. 
Their grist mill was a rude mortar and an unwieldly 
pestle. The hot ashes of the open fire made an 
ample baking pan for the potatoes after they had 
been introduced from Cape Elizabeth, and the bread 
as well. The stout iron crane that reached out from 
either sooty jamb of the low but wide-mouthed 
fire-place held kettle and skillet pendant over the 
blazing birch logs. Meats were roasted on an iron 
spit that was turned slowly by the children, red- 
faced, with the perspiration oozing from every pore, 
to beget a desperation in the youthful mind that was 
evolved into the hardihood of the swiftly maturing 
years. It was the Inferno of Childhood, to turn a 
spit while the drip was caught in a tray hollowed 
out of a halved hardwood stick, or where one's 
possessions were less frugal, an earthern pan, — and 
then there was the basting. When the repast was 
on the table, the housewife had earned the right to 
her meed of praise. . . . They were virgin days, and 
days of a virgin soil, all swathed in the most primitive 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 317 

of conditions, and conditions that had their limita- 
tions. A three-legged stool stood for a chair, and 
the long low meal chest with a bearskin thrown 
over it was a royal divan. A bowl of samp and 
goat's milk often comprised the entire course of the 
frugal feast, while a bit of hoe cake and a dip of 
mutton fat was rich fare, indeed. Mussels, clams 
and lobsters were to be had for the scouring of 
the sea shore after a storm, to be baked on the 
hot stones under a smother of seaweed, a la 
Aborigine. 

This settlement of Cammocks was a notable one, 
for it was not until 1636 that the settlers began to 
penetrate the lands above the marshes and to 
build substantial houses. There is little left to sug- 
gest the "fifty houses" that the old-time annalist 
credits to the Cammock hamlet, and that once made 
the, for those days, considerable aggregate of human- 
ity that lent activity to the scene, and, where even 
now, 

"Inland, as far as the eye can go, 
The hills curve round like a bended bow, " 

and across country, up hill and down dale are 

" Old roads winding, as old roads will, " 

but not to the old-time ferry or corn mill ; for those 
are obsolete in these days of patent flours, and when 
Steam and Electricity are become the Cromwells 
of the Commonwealth of rival industries. But there 
are 



318 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

" glimpses of chimneys and gabled eaves, 
Through green elm arches and maple leaves, — 
Old homesteads sacred to all that can 
Gladden or sadden the heart of man, — 
Over whose thresholds of oak and stone 
Life and Death have come and gone. " 

It was to the eastward that these original builders 
of old Scarborough crept from Cammock's house, and 
toward the Spurwink. Cammock laid his sills about 
midway of what became known as Cammock's 
Neck, the extreme peninsula-hke rib of land that 
makes the east boundary of the ancient Oivascoag's 
mouth, and it was located on a line dra^NTi due south 
from Castle Rocks. The earliest highway was along 
the sands of Eliot's Beach past Hubbard's Rocks, to 
end at Ambrose Boaden's house which was near the 
south-side mouth of the winding Spurmnk. North 
of Boaden's, were the homes of Bedford and Lapthorn. 
These date from about 1640, and looked out across 
the shine of the Spurwink and the limitless blue of the 
sea, and always the dull thunder of the beach was in 
their ears, and borne in from the bold rocks of Strat- 
ton's and Richmond's Islands came the roar of the 
breakers. As for Boaden, who was an experienced 

voyager, 

"The very waves that washed the sand 

Below him, he had seen before 

Whitening the Scandinavian strand 

And sultry ]\Iauritanian shore. 
From ice-rimmed isles, from summer seas 
Palm-fringed, they bore him messages; 
He heard the plaintive Nubian songs again, 
And mule-bells tinkhng down the hills of Spain." 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 319 

Boaden pitched his tent almost on the edge of the 
sea, and he found a pleasant companionship in its 
proximity, where in his leisure he might watch 

"the green buds of waves burst 
into white froth-flowers. " 

Boaden was a mariner. He was the master and 
owner of the vessel in which Cammock and his wife 
took passage to this new country, and these lands 
about the mouth of the Spurwink were his recom- 
pense instead of money. It may be that he saw like 
Keezar, through another magic lapstone, the people 
come and go from east to west, and from west to east; 
for adjacent to Boaden's house was the first ferry. 

This first ferry was ordered by a court held at the 
house of Robert Jordan, July 12, 1658. According 
to the record, it was "Ordered yt Mr. Ambrose 
Boaden shall keepe the Ferry over Spurwink River 
to Mr. Robt. Jordan, to ferry passengers from thence 
as occasion serveth. In consideration whereof the 
said Boaden is to have 2 pence for every person he 
ferryeth or carrieth over in prsent pay, and 3d for 
every such pson as hee bookes down. Ambrose 
Boaden wiUingly attempts of this Ferry on ye Tearmes 
by the Court appoynted." 

One rarely thinks, as one speeds under the summer 
or winter sun along the Spurwink marsh-levels behind 
his steed of steam, whose white mane trails a mile 
behind, of the rude ferry of Ambrose Boaden; for 
nothing of it remains to tell the tale of house, ferry- 
man, or the rude craft that labored slowly toward the 



320 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



hither side as might happen. But one is able to 
locate the old Boaden landmarks. 

Strange to relate, but two murders had occurred 
for the first twenty years of this rude yeomanry 
civilization. In 1644, at Gorgeana a woman was 
put to trial for murder, adjudged guilty, and exe- 
cuted. In 1646, Warwick Head was murdered, and 
Charles Frost was accused of the crime and tried. 



*:f^^-'^-^^ 




PROUT'S BEACH, PROUT'S NECK, SOUTH OF BOADEN'S FERRY 



Boaden was on the coronor's jury. This made up 
the tale of Boaden's public services. Losing his 
eyesight in 1670, he quit the ferry and rounded out 
an honest and reputable career in 1675, when he was 
laid away somewhere among these Scarborough 
sands. No 

"winding wall of mossy stone, 
Frost-flung and broken, lines 
A lonesome acre thinly grown 
With grass and wandering vines, " 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 321 

to mark his resting place, or the resting places of 
his contemporaries. One searches and questions in 
vain for the ancient sites of these burial places, but 
those were not the days of the common burial gi'ound ; 
and query as one may, 

"The Sphinx is drowsy 
Her wings are furled : 
Her ear is heavy, " 

and one turns from his quest silently, resignedly, for 
Nature holds the secrets of those early days, writing 
the epitaphs of her children in ripples of verdure 
across the once rude scars that for a brief space 
demanded the unwilling attention of the thoughtless 
wayfarer. 

Stephen Lapthorn, a neighbor of Boaden's, was a 
tenant of Cammock; and it was this same Lapthorn 
whom Winter warned off the south shore of the Spur- 
wink when he had begun to build his cabin not 
unlikely opposite the first roof-tree to grow out of 
these lands, that of Richard Tucker, whose sills have 
long ago rotted into the indistinguishable mold in 
which they grew, and the location of which is as 
uncertain. Winter threatened to pull his house 
down as soon as it was built; but Lapthorn kept to 
his building and Winter to his cupidous fuming, of 
which nothing came, as Cammock was not a man 
to brook interference upon so slight a pretense as 
that urged by Winter. There is no question, going by 
the location of Lapthorn, but Tucker and Cleeve were 
located about where the Spurwink begins to narrow 
from a broad river mouth into a river bed, as Lap- 



322 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

thorn's cabin is easily located by the old charts not 
more than a half mile from the bank of the Spur- 
wink, southward. Winter had occupied the cabins 
of Cleeve and Tucker and had begun the tillage of 
the lands which, with two years of planting, were 
in a fair state of cultivation, and which were made 
ready to his immediate use. Humanity has ever 
been gregarious, and it is not unreasonable to credit 
these early settlers with the desire for companion- 
ship, and in those days a glimpse of cabin smoke 
mounting through the morning air was like a gentle 
greeting to these hardy pioneers along the Spurwink. 
Still north, on the road to what later became the 
upper Spurwink Ferry, were the homes of ^^'alter 
Gendall and a half dozen others, whose smokes 
drifted down on the west winds after 1660 to blend 
with those of the Winter settlement over Richmond 
Island way. 

/ These lands were the roaming grounds of the Saco 
Indians even after the Algers, 1651, began the 
settlement about w^hat w^as known then, as now, as 
Dunstan's. Cammock's tenants settled closely about 
him on the Cammock plantation, to make up the 
settlement of Black Point; and it was not until 1636 
that other cabin smokes began to curl upward of a 
morning from Blue Point. It was Richard Foxwell, 
a son-in-law of Richard Bonighton (Bonython) who 
w^as the first settler at Blue Point whose house was 
near the old landmark of Hake-tree, and a little 
to the south of w^here Mill Creek saunters into the 
larger Owoscoag, now known as Dunstan's River. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



323 



It was adjacent to the old-time Clay's Landing. As 
for Hake-tree, I have been unable to discover why 




'^'^^'^^Si^rr^^-"^'" 



-gjC^^ 



/YA f -T i|LEW )PQ j MJ*- 



it was so named, as I find no mention of it except 
upon the old chart of Blue Point. It was closely 
adjacent to Foxwell that Henry Watts built during 
the same year. 



324 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

The entire country between the Saco River and 
the Spurwink was the territory of Black Point. Just 
when the narrow tongue of land now known as Scar- 
borough Beach began to be called Blue Point is 
uncertain; but that it became a local cognomen, 
according to Jocelyn, to distinguish it from the 
settlement of Black Point where Cammock had built, 
is granted. It was within the bounds of Black Point, 
however, as John Bonython discovered after his 
appeal to the pro\dncial court to sustain his claim 
to the estate of his deceased brother-in-law, Fox- 
well. 

As the days went the years multipUed, and these 
settlements were more -widely dispersed inland along 
the Owascoag and Nonsuch, until the clustered 
smokes of Swett's Plains began to tinge the waters 
of the Nonsuch; while, over Dunstan-way, the two 
dwellings of the Algers had become the center of a 
half score of cabins. New clearings were being 
made yearly, and the blackened stumps of these 
yearly "burns" marked the limit of the Indian 
occupation. To recall Cammock's coming in 1631, 
almost a generation had gone before the settler had 
begun to build much away from the seashore. In 
those days the Sokoki wigwam and the cabin mingled 
the incense of their hearth fires. 

One sees with eyes half shut, 

" here and there a clearing cut 
From the walled shadows round it shut ; 
Each with its farm-house builded rude, 
By EngUsh yeomen squared and hewed, " 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 325 

to recall the ways in which these lands were acquired, 
as evidenced by the deposition of Jane the Indian, 
the daughter of AYackwarrawaska, Sagamore of this 
Owascoag country. This Jane reserved the right 
that she, as well as her mother, should be allowed to 
live in the \icinity, as if the deed were not made 
from the Sagamore, and she settled on the north 
side of Blue Point on a slender jutting-out of land 
that made into the Owascoag opposite Mill Creek. 
To this day this nub of land is known as "Jane's 
Point." It was not many years ago that traces 
of her cabin might be seen. The rock which made 
the back of her fireplace has been removed and 
built into the chimney of one of Scarborough's sum- 
mer cottages. The story of her fire is still written 
upon it, and the licking flames that kept her warm 
through the rough wintry weather that came down 
across these bleak marshes, and Hghted her rude 
hibernaculum, and filled her soul with reminiscences 
of the days before Owascoag' s 

"wave-smoothed strand 
Saw the adventurer's tiny sail 
Flit, stooping from the eastern gale; 
And o'er these waters broke 
The cheer from Britain's hearts of oak. 
As brightly on the voyager's eye," 

was unrolled the vision of these low levels of open 
lands of Scarborough, seem anew to burst into a 
lively heat to gild the letters that marked her parting 
with her birthright. Whether its vandal possessor 
can read their mystery is to be doubted. By good 



326 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

rights the ghost of Jane Hunnup should haunt the 
new hearth-stone with uncanny complainings. If 
one could read the date of her bui'ial in the grave 
which is located near by, by the pliant verdure 
which has obliterated its ancient mound, it would 
be found to be 1675. She was known as Jane 
Hunnup, and not far away is a bowl of sand 
snuggled amid the tall grasses where a perennial 
spring of crystal water, sweet and cooling to the 
tliirsty palate, bubbles, its face upward to the 
sun, and croons with almost inaudible voice as its 
tiny flood breaks over its gTcen rim to mingle a 
few minutes later with the tide. This is Jane's 
Spring. As one watches these opalescent pearls 
rising at irregular intervals from the bottom of this 
sandy cup, it may be that it is the gentle respiration 
of Jane, whose uneasy spirit, Naiad-like, ever haunts 
the spot she once knew so well, and as a cliild of 
Nature doubtless loved and cherished as a direct 
gift of the Manitoii. 

Here is her confirmation of the Alger title to the 
lands of Dunstan, made the 19th September of 
1659. 

"This aforesayed Jane ahas Uphannum, doth 
declare that her mother namely, Nagaasgua, the 
'\;vife of Wackwarrawaska, Sagamore, and her brother, 
namely, Ugagogsukit and herself, namely, Uphannum, 
coequally hath sould unto Andrew Alger and to his 
brother Arthur Alger a tract of land begining att the 
Mouth of ye River called Blew Poynt River, where 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 327 

the River doth part, and soe bounded up along with 
the river called Oawasscoga in Indian, and soe up 
three score pooles above the falls on the one side, 
and on the other side bounded up along with the 
northernmost River that Dreaneth by the great hill 
of Abram Jocelyns and goeth northward, bounding 
from the head yt River South West, and soe to the 
aforesayed bounds, namely, three-score pooles above 
the Fall. This aforesayed Uphannum doth declare 
that her mother and brother and shee hath already 
in her hand received full satisfaction of the aforesayed 
Algers for the aforesayed land from the begining of 
the world to this day, provided on condition that for 
tyme to come from year to year the aforesayed 
Algers shall peacefully suffer Uphannum to plant 
in Andrew field soe long as Upham: and the mother 
Negaasgua doe both live, and alsoe one bushel of 
corne for acknowledgements every year soe long as 
they both shall live. Upham: doth declare that 
ye bargan was made in the year 1651: unto which 
shee dothe subscribe, the mark of 

Uphanum X't. " 

The foregoing is a curious document, and is sugges- 
tive of one of the methods by which the Indian was 
inveigled out of his moral as well as hereditary title, 
and like Esau, he got but a mess of pottage. It 
was this and similar titles obtained in much the same 
way, or in a fit of drunken generosity, that the Indians 
gave the settler an excuse for the encroachments 
upon their hunting-grounds and fishing-places that 



328 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

were emphasized by the blackened stumps that 
spectre-Uke, greeted the vision of the aborigine as 
he went to and fro over his once domain, a stranger 
in his own land. The savage was wont to set up his 
wigwam in the settler's clearing, and to help him- 
self to the product of his industry, or husbandry. 
This, after a time, grew irksome to the settler, and 
it was not long before the savage grew as suspicious 
as the settler had grown ungenerous. 

As if the Alger brothers were not satisfied with 
this declaration of Jane, they obtained a second 
acknowledgement of her in the year 1674. The 
name of Dunstan was given to the territory. They 
were from Dunster, England, and this corruption 
commemorates the old English towTi in which their 
childhood was spent. If one is curious to locate at 
this day the site of the Alger houses, they have only 
to find the ravine that extends down toward the 
marsh which is very near the landing road of to-day 
where it turns in a southerly direction into the 
field of what was once the Horatio Southgate 
farm. Arthur Alger lived on the northerly side of 
this ravine, while Andrew built liis house across on 
the opposite slope. The Alger cellar is still pointed 
out, and as one stands upon the ancient site and 
surveys the surrounding country, one gets the im- 
pression that these men were not obli\'ious to the 
beauties of Nature; for, extending outward from 
their feet toward the sea was a fascinating picture, 
which is not mvich different in these days from 
what was unfolded to them with every sunrise, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 329 

except that the wooded lands have been broken 
up into parcels; but here is the same undulating 
grasses of the wide marshes, seamed and crossed by 
threads of liquid silver, cyane, or dun, as the sky 
be fair or foul, or as the sun be in the east or 
west, or toppling from its zenith at mid-day. The 
same wondrous verdure makes the glamour of the 
farming-lands; and beyond the white line of the sands 
stretches the wide sea where the ships go up and 
down. 

ON THE ROAD TO DUNSTAN'S, BOULTER'S CREEK 

There is a spontaneity in Nature that gives buoy- 
ancy to every human nerve, that intoxicates the 
brain to make the poet sing, the painter to evolve 
masterpieces. To the lesser genius it appeals 
similarly, to upUft and strengthen the best purposes 
in life. To sip the cool flood of Jane's Spring, up 
and out-flowing from its weed besprent marge, is a 
revelation to the palate accustomed to the faucet of 
a soulless water company; and one might go farther 
and compare it to a draught from the marble-lined 
fountains of Caracalla filled from the snow-capped 
hiUs of Rome and brought thither through the most 



330 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

magnificent viaducts for a world to marvel at, — 
Natm^e is Nature still, and superlative. 

One likes to think that these men looked up from 
their tasks often, to become inspired anew with the 
promise that lurks always in the sunlit sky, yes, 
and on the rugged face of earth as well; and yet, 
while they saw, they plotted for possessions, nor did 
they apparently stand for a trifle of honesty or dis- 
honesty. They were of a superior race, of superior 
manners, (in some instances one would involuntarily 
exclaim, God save the mark!) and of superior 
privileges. 

At the period around and about the time of Jane's 
first confirmation of the Alger title, the Indians con- 
sidered that they were simply giving to their English 
acquaintance an interest in common to enjoy their 
hunting-gTounds. They could not foresee the civili- 
zation that was to eradicate the barbarism for which 
the Indian stood, and further to annihilate it; but 
when they began to be driven from their hunting- 
grounds, their maize fields and their clam flats, along 
with other wrongs, the most palpable of which was 
the plying them with rum whereby they were robbed 
of their furs, their lands and their means of common 
existence; when the Enghshman claimed the abso- 
lute fee in the lands, then the silken thread of friend- 
ship was frozen into the bond of hate, and they drew 
apart and sought the deeper wilderness, to let their 
wounds breed and fester into the open violence 
and outbreak of 1675, when the family of Robert 
Nichols was the first to be slain and their house at 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 331 

Blue Point burned. This was the first act of retalia- 
tion. But the story of the tragedies that made 
Scarborough the "bloody ground" of the early days 
must not be anticipated, except that the Algers were 
among the first prey of the savage. 

Of the earliest Scarborough settlers somewhat has 
been written and less is known. Little authentic 
is known except from the court records, which for 
the time were a sort of olla podrida, and even these 
are scant, isolated events, happenings in which one 
individual or another stalks across the lonely stage, 
whose part can be made up as it were but by an 
isolate incident in his career. Little or nothing is 
recorded of the women of the time, except as they 
are haled before the provincial courts at one session 
or another to be judged of their misdemeanors, and 
these, much to their credit, are limited to three or 
four instances, of which one offense originated within 
the purlieus of Scarborough. 

Watts was presented in 1640, for "carrying bords" 
on the Sabbath. He, wdth others, found in Robert 
Jordan a cause of annoyance. He had some trouble 
with him by reason of Jordan, as a minister, inter- 
fering with Watts' domestic affairs. This clergyman 
of Spurwink was the means of separating Watts' 
wife from her allegiance to her husband. The court 
held Nov. 7, 1665, records the following: "Mr. Henry 
Watts haveing some discourse with Mr. Jordan, in 
the presence of this Court, did utter these words, 
that such as sayd Jordan was did much mis- 
cheefe as hee conceaved, haveing their discourse 



332 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

about keeping away Henery Watts his wife from 
him. " 

The object of the record is apparent, and evidently 
intended to stand to the prejudice of Jordan. From 
an examination of the record, nothing further is 
mentioned of this discourse. Jordan was then one 
of the commissioners for the king, and was perhaps 
trying his judicial pinions on Watts. Cleeve was the 
dominant influence at Casco as the deputy-president 
of Lygonia, exercising jurisdiction over Scarborough 
as well. He attacked the titles of the Blue Point 
planters who stood out against his assumptions, 
holding under the grants from Bonython; but Watts 
succumbed to the Casco magnate and had a grant of 
one hundred acres adjacent to his house at Blue 
Point. Watts was evidently of a pohtic disposition, as 
this incident would warrant. Watts had a mill. This 
was on Foxwell Brook and he conveyed one-half of 
his interest to one Allison, and in his conveyance he 
describes himself as "of Black Point, alias Scar- 
borough in the village wee call Cockell," evidently 
a village nickname. There is another record in 
which Watts figures. In those days the officers of 
the law were very jealous of their dignity. Of the 
commissioners of Scarborough and Falmouth, Watts 
was one. He in some way trod upon the official toes 
of his colleagues and he was complained of before 
the next court " for abuse of the Commissioners by 
saying they had sent scandalous letters into the Bay. " 
At the hearing the charge was considered to be of 
vital importance. As an instance of the prompt 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 333 

curbing of free speech the incident is a strenuous 
illustration. Watts was somewhat of a politician 
after the fashion of the day, and was a member of 
the General Assembly of the province of Lygonia, 
also a commissioner under Massachusetts, 1648; a 
constable in 1659; also commissioner in 1660, 1661, 
and chosen by his townspeople to the same office in 
1664. The General Court of Massachusetts having 
some suspicion of his loyalty, refused to confirm 
this election. The time of his death, as well as 
his age, is uncertain. 

Watts and Foxwell for several years were the only 
settlers at Blue Point, but in time there came George 
Bearing and Nicholas Edgecomb who wooed and won 
the lovely Wilmot Randall away from her bondage 
to John Winter. In 1640, there were only these four 
plantations at Blue Point. Bailey and Shaw came 
later. These early commissioners were qualified to 
hold courts and to try cases under fifty pounds, 
so it is evident that Watts was a man of some parts, 
and of much natural ability. William Smyth, who 
with Foxwell administered on Cammock's estate, 
came to Blue Point in 1640, and from that time on 
this portion of Scarborough made a steady increase 
in population. It is, however, to be noted that 
Andrew Alger lived upon Stratton's Island in 1645, 
but he came to Scarborough from Saco at the time 
he took his Indian title from Wackwarrawaskee and 
his wife. 

I have never seen any record to definitely locate 
the date of Jocelyn's marriage to Margaret Cam- 



334 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

mock; nor do I know that it is of interest to others, 
unless one is much inchned to the sentimental side 
of life. But, as a member of the Cammock household, 
and as a boon and cherished friend of Cammock, the 
widow could not have been unaware of the delightful 
qualities of Jocelyn which made him so acceptable 
an inmate of the Cammock mansion. One cannot 
but commend her wisdom and good taste. With his 
English training, Cammock must have built here a 
great house much after the English pattern. He 
came over here with almost manor rights, and after 
the fashion of the times, with his head agog \\ith 
feudal rights and privileges, he built with a view to 
maintaining his prerogative as a feudal lord, as became 
the nephew of the great Earl of Warwick. 

Here was a great, old-fashioned house, with ample 
grounds, and from its upper windows the sea was 
visible from every gable. One would like to have 
had an Enchanted Carpet so he might transport 
himself backward over the centuries to have dropped 
in of an evening upon this semi-isolate man with the 
fair Margaret demurely ensconced in her wide-armed 
chair brought from over the sea, and seated wiiere 
the firelight shone brighest, playing at hide-and-go- 
seek among the loosened strands that hung about 
her forehead like an aureole lambent, softly illumi- 
nate, wiiile beside the opposite jamb of the low 
wide-mouthed fireplace these English gentlemen 
discoursed soberly of the days back in old England, 
or essayed to solve jointly the problem of the new 
civihzation for which they stood active sponsors. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



335 



Anon a merry laugh made the leaping flame quiver 
and stay a moment to catch the turn of the Ciuip at 
Winter's expense as some incident of his domestic 
life found its way into the warp of the conmion 
conversation. 

There are two stout stone mugs on the embers at 
their feet and a slender wreatliing of steam, fragrantly 




SITE OF CAMMOCK'S HOUSE ON PROUT'S NECK 



odorous, the incense of its distillation, hke the 
wraith of some disturbed spirit, steals noiselessly 
upward, to blend with the pungent smokes from the 
cumbersome backlog smouldering in the resinous 
heats of the Norway pine of which Canmiock's Neck 
furnished an abundance. Who knows but they were 
talking of the English wizard, Shakespeare, who had 
died fifteen years before, or poring over that famous 



336 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

folio edition of 1623, recalling rare Ben Jonson who 
prefixed some lines as a frontispiece to that first 
edition, and whom they must have known among 
their London acquaintance. The Bedford tinker, 
who was to write the English Odyssey just forty 
years later, was but three years old and had hardly 
reached the dissenting age; but the Stratford player 
was entertainment enough. Milton's great work was 
yet fifteen years away, nor did they need that, for 
there was no dearth of topic to while away the 
privacy of this hospitable hearth. One can conjure 
many a thing done and story told to make the raftered 
sohdarity of this great living room vibrate with 
well-bred jollity, with quaint and credulous John 
Jocelyn as annalist. 

As one recalls it, it was a long, low-ceiled room, 
with massive timberings and deeply-recessed windows 
with wide stools, where one might sit as the rain beat 
in from the sea on the spray-laden gale, or watch the 
surging of the waters along the nearby sands, while a 
brisk fire crackled its challenge from the antique 
firedogs fashioned beside some old Flemish forge — 
a bit of spoil from muddy Holland in the days of 
Elizabeth, and borne over the straits by Leicester's 
freebooters. And those long-stemmed pipes of ruddy 
clay, what dreamy wreathings of visible intangi- 
biUties were blown away from their capacious bowls, 
weaving more softly the soft spell of the silence 
that from time to time enwrapped these three 
gentle folk! One can hear the house dog whine, 
unconscious of his complaining, dreaming hke his 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 337 

master, mayhap, while Tabby's shadow reaches out 
across the thick rug of fur while she bhnks medita- 
tively at the swirling smokes that choke the dusky 
flue; and the odors of those steaming stoups come 
again. 

"The quaighs were deep, the Uquor strong, 
and on the tale," 

the goodwife hung, to make 

"a comment sage and long," 

or to hold her peace altogether. 

Undoubtedly Foxwell rowed over of an evening, 
or Boaden strolled down the sands from Spurwink 
mouth, and perhaps Mitton from Casco kept him 
company, and then from mouth to mouth the stories 
flew, while gay yet observant John Jocelyn drank 
in every marvelous tale Cammock and Mitton could 
invent. Henry Jocelyn, unconscious perhaps of the 
likelihood of his brother John's turning romancer and 
putting all these tales into a book, shook with merri- 
ment when unreason seemed most to be reason gar- 
nished with the grace Hues of some monstrous sea 
serpent that made its haunt off the rocks of Cape 
Ann, or merman slaughtered over at Casco Bay, as 
if one were not likely to see the greatest monstrosities 
imaginable with hardly more than the fumes of the 
steaming-hot aqua vitce filling one's nostrils and 
beclouding his brain, with the storm winds pounding 
the gables. 

While ever the loud-flapping flame 
Plays, like an urchin at his game, 



338 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Along the sooty chimney-back, there 

Or here, as fickle as the April air; 

Cuffs the black pot hooks on the crane 

That dumbly, like a weather vane — 

The stoic of the winter gale — 

Hung impotent above the fiery grail ; 

Or, as the night creeps to its flood 

Along the rough-hewn walls of wood, 

Writes many a mystic hieroglyph 

In wraithe-like silhouette, as if 

The woodland sprites and elves had made 

Out of this maze of Hght and shade 

A dancing floor; while 'neath the length 

Of smoking forestick, with recurrent strength, 

The embers that have caught the sunset glow, 

Responsive to the storm wind's ebb and flow, 

Croon the unwritten melody, 

The endless rune of earth and sky; 

While the stout roof tree, hke a stringless harp 

Shrills to each wild sea gust in protest sharp. 

Or chants, dissonant, in a minor key 

Its lesser part in Nature's minstrelsy. 

It was a series of Arabian Nights entertainments, 
differing only in its limitations. 

One would have enjoyed watching Cammock as he 
wrought his wild domain into the semblance of an 
Enghsh landscape. His trees were grown for him, 
and he had but to open up their shadows here and 
there to let in the sunhght so the grasses would come 
in ; and what huge monarchs of the forest they must 
have been! How they must have towered above 
his roofs, and their somnolent shadows, deep and 
cool, how restful ! But not many years later, hardly 
more than a decade, and Cammock sailed away never 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 339 

to return. He went to the West Indies, where he was 
taken ill and died. This was in September of 1643. 

Henry Jocelyn, a like quiet man and of analogous 
character and disposition, the favorite of Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges, possessed the talisman to landed 
wealth and a Uke domestic treasure. His energy 
was not of the active stamp of Cammock's, and it 
fell much short of that of George Cleeve or even 
John Winter, yet firmly adherent to his rights, he 
seems evidently to have found his greatest delight in 
the new career opened to him by his matrimonial 
venture. 

Cammock had left to Jocelyn by will the bulk of 
his property enhanced with all the charm of sylvan 
retirement, reserving to his wife Margaret five 
hundred acres. So far as Jocelyn was concerned, 
there is not a doubt but the most dehghtful possession 
was to be acquired. What a delicious romance was 
woven as with silken thread, overshot with the mild 
firelight, as the long winter evenings held these two, 
Henry Jocelyn the bachelor, and Margaret Cammock 
the widow, in its immaculate privacy! And then, 
as the spring began to blow up from the south and 
the buds to burst their waxen bonds, and the wild 
songsters to mate and nest among the pendant 
branches of the overshadowing trees, the hearts of 
these two were gromng younger with every spring 
carol, and who were perhaps waiting for the red 
roses to bloom among the ledges. It was then that 
Jocelyn, with Margaret Cammock's willing and even 
eager assent, made himself residuary legatee of the 



/ 



340 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

choicest parcel of personal estate appurtenant to 
Ferry Rocks, which must have been more beautiful 
then than now, unshorn of their pristine environ- 
ment when the smokes of the first fires on the Cam- 
mock hearth blew seaward on the west winds, when 
Jocelyn first partook of the fine old-fashioned English 
hospitality inaugurated by the builder of this first 
spacious roof tree at Black Point. One can imagine 
what a congenial soul was John Jocelyn, the romancer, 



^^l^^£^r^^'^-^s::^^^^*^h 




FERRY ROCKS, CAMMOCK'S NECK, BAR AT MOUTH OF OWASCOAG 

to gild these halcyon days, soon to be invaded by the 
cares and responsibilities of public hfe. 

It was in 1636 that Henry Jocelyn became identi- 
fied with the administration of affairs in New 
Somersetshire, as one of its commissioners, and this 
seemed likely to be the limit of his desires for public 
preferment. It was later that he took up the 
burden of the fight with Cleeve for jurisdictional 
supremacy when Richard Vines had wearied of the 
aggressive interference of the magnate of Casco Neck, 
only to withdraw from it when the royal commissioners 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 341 

for foreign plantations had decreed that he should 
do so. 

John Jocelyn was a younger brother. He was a 
traveled man for the times, and evidently had an 
abundance of leisure on his hands. His eye had 
grown observant, while he owned to a facile pen. 
He was possessed of a wiUing ear, and too often a 
credulous one. He was something of a story writer 
on his own account; and when fortified by the imagin- 
ings of Mitton and his boon companions, his tales 
had the flavor of Munchausen and bordered upon the 
marvelous. 

Here is one of his romances in which Richard 
Foxwell, the son-in-law of Richard Bonython, is the 
actor who stalks across a scene that might have 
served as a broidery to one of Queen Mab's frolics. 
John Jocelyn says he had it from the lips of Foxwell 
himself. 

" Foxwell having been to the eastward in a shallop, 
on his return was overtaken by the night, and fear- 
ing to land on the barbarous shore, put off a httle 
farther to sea. About midnight they were awak- 
ened by a loud voice from the shore calhng ' Foxwell! 
Foxwell! come ashore!' three times. Upon the sands 
they saw a great fire and men and women hand 
in hand dancing round about it in a ring. After an 
hour or two they vanished, and as soon as the day 
appeared, Foxwell put into a small cove and traced 
along the shore, where he found the footsteps of 
men, women, and children shod with shoes, and an 
infinite number of brands' ends thrown up by the 



342 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

water; but neither Indians nor English could he meet 
with on the shore, nor in the woods!" And so 
Jocelyn is led to remark, "that there are many 
stranger things in the world than are to be seen 
between London and Stanes. " 

Black Point was at this time, 1640, the most 
rapidly growing locality along the immediate Scar- 
borough shore. It was a prosperous and as well 
progressive community. Here was made largely the 
early history of the old town. John Jocelyn, writ- 
ing of this settlement about 1671, says: "Six miles 
to the eastward of Saco and forty miles from Gor- 
giana (York), is seated the town of Black Point, con- 
sisting of about fifty dwelling-houses, and a magazine 
or doganne scatteringly built. They have a store 
of neat and horses, of sheep near upon 7 or 800, 
much arable and salt marsh and fresh, and a corn- 
mill. To the south end of the Point (upon which are 
stages for fishermen) lie two small islands; beyond 
the Point north eastward runs the River of Spur- 
wink." This settlement would compare superla- 
tively with many a thriving town of modern Maine 
whose boundary lines touch upon the edges of the 
State's wild lands. What more definite description 
could be given of this first settlement of Scarborough 
outside of its personnel, and even that is indicated in 
its recorded thrift! It is a homely picture of homes 
and herds and flocks ; and one is able to approximate 
the population. It is a single statement of fact, but 
so tinged with the suggestion of bucolic atmosphere 
that the romance of its daily hving is rich with the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 343 

delicate colorings that lend a fascinating charm to 
its realisms, and the like humble experiences of its 
probable contingent of three hundred souls who were 
making the history of a historic old town. 

It was thirty-eight years before that the sills of 
Cammock's ample roofs were laid on the neck of land 
that bore his name for years after, and by whose 
example of Enghsh sturdiness these lands were 
upturned to the sun, Cadmus-like, and in whose grit 
were sown the Dragon-teeth by which the aborigine 
was finally exterminated. 

Henry Jocelyn w^as the son of Sir Thomas Jocelyn, 
Knight, of Kent, and whose name is first of those 
commissioners who were to organize the government 
to be established under the charter for the erection of 
the province of Maine. Sir Thomas did not come 
hither, but Thomas Gorges came in his stead. 
Whether fortunately or otherwise. Sir Thomas was 
unavoidably delayed in England. 

One is able to locate the date of Henry Jocelyn's 
coming by a letter written by Mason to Ambrose 
Gibbins, May 5, 1634: "These people and provisions 
which I have now sent with Mr. Jocelyn are to set up 
two saw-mills." We know the saw-mills were set 
up, and it is a matter of record that this letter was 
received by Gibbins July 10 of the same year; and 
that was when Jocelyn's ship shpped her English 
anchors for a maiden dip into the flood of the Piscata- 
qua. Jocelyn came as Mason's agent, and so acted 
until the death of his principal, which occurred not 
long after. It was while so engaged upon the banks 



344 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

of the Piscataqua that Jocelyn made his tour of 
exploration into the wilds of northern Vermont. 
Morton, in his New England Canaan, an extremely 
rare book in these days, describes Jocelyn as an 
explorer. He says, "A more complete discovery of 
those parts (Erocoise Lake, now Lake Champlain) 
is, to my knowledge, undertaken by Henry Joseline, 
of Kent, Knight, by the approbation and appoint- 
ment of that heroic and very good Commonwealth's 
man. Captain John Mason, Esquire, a true foster 
father and lover of virtue, who at his own charge 
hath fitted Master Joseline, and employed him to 
that purpose." 

The death of Mason upset the plans of this obser- 
vant and energetic young man, and upon the disin- 
tegration of the Mason colony, he went almost directly 
to Black Point, by reason, according to Hubbard, of 
some agreement between the former and Gorges. 
This was in 1635. Here, for a space of nearly forty 
years after, he played the role of the most distin- 
guished citizen. He was a gentleman and a thor- 
oughbred aristocrat, kindly and considerate in his 
attitude toward others; well read in the literature 
of his day and broadly disposed in his relations with 
those about him, withal generous. Like Vines and 
Champernown, with them he made up the famous 
Chesterfieldian trio of these early days of the Gorges 
Palatinate. The political history of the province 
has already passed under the eye of the reader 
through which runs the devious influence of George 
Cleeve from the latter's threshold at Casco Neck to 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 345 

the rocks of Cape Porpoise, and which may be 
hkened to a slack hne upon which much of the 
pioneer hnen was hung to dry, and which was more 
apt to trail in the dirt than otherwise. 

That Jocelyn was directly connected with Gorges is 
evident from the large grants of land privately made 
to him by the latter; for his holdings of Scarborough 
or Black Point lands became extensive and valuable; 
so that in time he was the wealthiest land pro- 
prietor hereabout, when wealth was hardly more 
than an acquisition. It had no ameliorations other 
than the delights of possession, a substantial hving 
in which might be included a comfortable shelter and 
a fat capon with servants and hirelings at every turn. 
His yacht was a stout shallop; for a cross-country 
ride was only here and there a blazed trail through 
a hmitless forest. The almost sailless sea was before, 
and the unexplored woodland behind; there was the 
arduous hunt through shag and over morass and 
marsh; a shot with a shoulder-dislocating blunder- 
buss at apparently never-lessening coveys of wild 
fowl; a huge open fire, a stoup of strong waters, a 
pipe, the occasional companionship of some fisherman 
who had left Winter to become his tenant. 

These, with his few books, and the delightful 
company of Margaret Jocelyn filled his well-bred 
leisure, except when the cares of pubhc affairs invaded 
his domesticity to break the monotony of self, — 
the canker of ennui. Wealth to Jocelyn meant 
means, but the end which it finally served lay away 
down "red lane"; and to anticipate that was where 



346 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the most of Jocelyn's holdings went, as tavern- 
keeper Scottow at Dunstan's might safely avouch 
were he alive and at his trade as he "bookes down" 
the ever-lengthening score; for Scottow in time 
became the owner of the big house and the wide 
lands surrounding it at Cannnock's Neck, but which 
he left in Jocelyn's charge, while the former there 
carried on a lucrative "fishinge." 

Henry Jocelyn was at one time to Black Point what 
Wilham Pepperell was to Kittery, but before his 
death he had absorbed the greater part of his im- 
mense wealth in la^'ish entertainment and almost 
princely hospitaUty in the gi'atification of his inclina- 
tion for boon living and companionship. Perhaps 
he was wise in so doing; for money is not nmch after 
all, except as it gives power to unscrupulous and 
selfish ends to ine\itably cm*se the individual who 
has no other aim in hfe except to tear down his old 
barn that he may build a gi*eater. Dives's story is 
repeated with each of his prototypes, and with but 
httle variation. It is only the rich wiio can afford 
to keep a skeleton in the closet, or a portrait of some 
one of its kin turned to the wall. The upper and the 
nether stone are never still, and the miller is never 
at loss for toll. 

It were better for Jocelyn that he should share with 
others that which came to him so easily; and it were 
better that others did hkewise. What a stupendous 
conscience fund would be accimiulated with its 
countless contributions, if those wiio feed upon the 
weaknesses, the confidences, and creduUties of others 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 347 

were to repent. Unfortunately the millenium is not 
in sight, but Uke the comet that goes saihng through 
the ilhmitable spaces of the sky to return to the 
visions of men only after aeons of years have passed, 
it will come. Mayhap it comes to each as he throws 
his shovel down for the last time. 

In 1636 Jocelyn became an associate on the 
Provincial Bench under Wilham Gorges. Vines, 
Bonython, Cammock, Purchase, Godfrey, and Lewis 
were his colleagues, making up the personnel of the 
first court of New Somersetshire, and which was 
held at Saco, March 25, 1636, the notable ear-mark 
of which in this regard is the attachment of John 
Stratton's old" Brass Kettell" at Godfrey's instigation. 
Jocelyn's commission was renewed in 1639. 

The first general court of Maine convened at Saco, 
June 25, 1640. John Wilkinson was appointed the 
first constable of Black Point, and at which time 
eight famihes made up the tale of its humanity. 
Five years later, October 21, 1645, Jocelyn was 
elected assistant deputy-governor in anticipation 
that Deputy-Governor Vines was about to depart 
from the province, which he did shortly after, sore 
and weary with the burden which the Old Man of the 
Sea who Hved at Casco Neck had imposed upon 
him. He was sick with the unalterable and unvoiced 
contempt he felt for the unscrupulous conduct of 
Rigby's agent, and had taken ship for a more quiet 
and congenial atmosphere. 

Upon Jocelyn fell the mantle of his Elijah and the 
burden of maintaining the integrity of the Gorges 



348 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

government. Upon his assumption of the adminis- 
tration aggressive measures were resolved upon by 
the less sensitive successor of Vines. Military- 
measures were agreed upon, and the scattered 
cohorts of the middle province were assembled and 
were solemnly invested with all the panoply of 
war, and in due time they marched over to Casco, 
where a parley was held with Rigby's Deputy-Presi- 
dent Cleeve, the Magician of the " broken tytle, " 
with the result that within the year Jocelyn and his 
Colonel General Bonython had ducked their heads 
at the cry of "down bridge!" and had become 
subservient to the Rigby regime. 

In 1648 the edge of Jocelyn's resentment had 
worn off so he had been able to mount the Provincial 
Bench, — this time as an associate of the persistent 
and apparently triumphant Cleeve, in which act one 
discovers the former fine sense of loyalty to his old 
friend Vines swallowed up in the grosser instinct 
that compels the wounded game to run to cover, and 
possibly, at that time, the wing of Cleeve afforded 
the safest covert. Jocelyn was a royalist by birth 
and education. Cleeve was a Roundhead, and one 
can realize the repugnance which Jocelyn may have 
felt in submitting to the inevitable. He regarded the 
elevation of Cleeve as an ebullition of the politics of 
the times, and his yielding his allegiance to Rigby as 
a bending before the storm which was to be but 
temporary, as was evidenced by the almost immediate 
uprising against Cleeve when the news of Rigby's 
death was wafted over seas. Jocelyn not only 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 349 

sympathized with this futile rebelhon, but actively 
encouraged it. It was the swinging back of the 
pendulum to its proper stroke, and he espoused the 
royal cause anew, which made him trouble, as it 
resulted in his arrest by and his subsequent recog- 
nizance upon complaint to the ^'Bay authorities." 
He was, however, discharged upon his appearance at 
Boston before the general court, according to the 
terms of his bond, as was Robert Jordan, who was 
apprehended with him. Jocelyn was too notable a 
man to be dealt with severely; but his adherence to 
the Gorges interest was a matter of principle rather 
than sentiment. 

Massachusetts had swallowed York at a gulp, and 
Jocelyn 's arrest was but the dust swept on before 
the storm that was blowing stiffly to eastward as far 
as Merry-meeting Bay. From this on, events moved 
surely, and so July 13, 1658, became a notable day 
for Black Point, when the commissioners from 
Massachusetts came down to take the last bite of the 
cherry at which for ten years that Puritan body 
politic had been nibbling, — the Gorges domain. 

Perhaps Jocelyn yielded too easily, and yet these 
slenderly equipped provinces were illy able to make 
a successful contest against their more powerful 
neighbor. So the "Submission" took place and the 
townfolk of Black Point agreed in writing "to be 
subject to the Government of the Massachusetts Bay 
In New England." This action was further ratified 
by them under "solmn oath." 

This agreement was a bill of particulars broken into 



350 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

"Articles" designated by numerals, and which might 
well be called a Bill of Rights, and which consisted 
of eleven propositions. Of these, that most interest- 
ing is article seven: "That those places which were 
formerly called Black Point, Blue Point and Stratton's 
Island, thereto adjacent, shall be henceforth called 
by the name of Scarborough, the bounds of which 
town on the western side beginneth where the town 
of.Saco endeth, and so along the western side of the 
River Spurwink eight miles back into the country." 

This town was named for the English Scarborough, 
and although it has been clipped by irreverent or- 
thoepists of some of the letters of its final syllable in 
its journey down the years, the idem sonans has ever 
made its identity certain. Article ten provided 
" that the towns of Scarborough and Falmouth shall 
have Commissioners Courts to try causes as high as 
fivety pounds." 

Jocelyn and Henry Watts were the first com- 
missioners under that article, and Jocelyn' s honors 
were augmented by his being created one of the 
magistrates for 1658, an office of more considerable 
extensive jurisdiction. All these honors were merited 
and sustained by the character of the man. It was 
a sop to Cerberus, perhaps, while Cleeve, who had 
made the way to this aggrandizement of Massachusetts 
possible by his fomenting the state of partial anarchy 
which prevailed throughout the Maine province 
from Cape Porpoise to Clapboard Island after 1636, 
was ignored and left to find by his own candle-light 
his w^ay through that obscurity that shrouded his 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



351 



footsteps down the after years, and that deepened 
as his pecuHar heritage with each recurrent falhng 

of the 

' ' Sere and yellow leaf." 

Prior to 1659 the Maine province was wholly 
under the Massachusetts administration; but with 
the following year Charles II had been seated firmly 




NORTHERN RIVER 

on the Enghsh throne, and the hopes of the royaUsts 
began to revive, so that a son of Sir John Gorges 
petitioned the king to restore the province of his an- 
cestors. The royal demand was made upon Massa- 
chusetts to make restitution or show cause for their 
occupation. This demand was ignored, and was not 
compUed with until 1676, but the following year 
Massachusetts had without notice to the king 
secured the province by purchase from the Gorges 



352 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

heirs for the sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds. 
This trick on the part of Massachusetts so incensed 
Charles that he ordered the money returned by the 
heirs, but in this case possession seemed to be not 
only the nine traditional points of the law, but the 
tenth as well. As it was, the "big fish" lost some- 
thing to a still larger. It was an early exemplifica- 
tion of the Yankee trait always to get something 
for nothing. 

Before all this happened, that is to say, twelve 
years before Charles II attempted to "settle the 
peace and security" of this province, the royal 
government was represented by a judiciary which 
first convened at Wells, the visible paraphernalia of 
the powers that were. It was for this judicial body 
to enact " that every towne should take care that 
there be a pair of stocks, a cage, and a couking stool 
erected between this and next Court. " 

At next court, Scarborough, much to its credit, 
was fined forty shillings for its non-compliance with 
this semibarbarous edict. There were no shrewish 
wives in town, unless one recalls Bridget Moore who 
meddled somewhat in her neighbors' affairs and 
troubled her neighborhood with her vapors. One 
William Batten was before the court upon a similar 
presentment, as was Joseph Winnock of Winnock's 
Neck. Winnock had possibly tarried too long at 
Bedford's Tavern, so that his tongue got loose to 
run him a race across lots; and, whereat, he fell upon 
Mr. Francis Hooke, the magistrate, averring that he 
was sober and every other was drunk, after the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 353 

fashion of men deep in their cups. His offense was 
"abusing Mr. Francis Hooke Just: of peace, by say- 
ing he was no more drunk than Mr. Hooke, and 
called sd Hooke 'Mowne Calfe'." Winnock was 
mulcted in forty shillings and sent home to sober off, 
his journey no doubt colored by the reflection that a 
moon calf and a magistrate of Mr. Hooke's eminent 
respectability were not to be confounded. It is 
doubtful if these implements of contumely were put 
to use in Scarborough. 

In 1668 Jocelyn had retired from active affairs. 
Black Point had grown from the three habitations 
at his coming to a semi-populous community. After 
Winter's death in 1645, the fishermen of Richmond's 
Island came over to the Jocelyn settlement largely 
and took up lands and became sober (as sober as the 
times would allow), industrious planters, and man}'' 
of them laid the foundations of the families whose 
names are common in Scarborough in these days. 
They were a hardy, hard-headed race, inured to ex- 
posure and the strenuous effort that made living 
possible in the lean times which made up the early 
years of the settlement, nor did Black Point differ 
in this regard from the neighboring settlements of 
the period. 

In these days of the second generation, Dunstan's 
had become a well-settled section under the lead 
of the Algers, Abraham Jocelyn, and Scottow. Here 
was Jocelyn's Hill until 1660, when it passed by 
purchase to Captain Joshua Scottow, by whose sur- 
name it has ever since been known. 



354 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



Scottow kept an ordinary at Dunstan's but Nathan 
Bedford was the first to engage in tavern keeping in 
Scarborough. It is not a far stretch of the imagina- 
tion to environ one's self with the rough walls and 
low ceihng of Bedford's taproom. Overhead were 
the huge stringers that stretched from wall to wall 
upon which the floors of the upper rooms were laid, 
smoke stained and festooned with the tapestry of the 
industrious spider. Across one side was the huge 




SCOTTOW'S HILL 



fireplace with rough stone jambs within whose 
black jaws sat a half-dozen cronies, each with a 
steaming mug of rum in hand, swapping stories 
between sips, or blowing whiffs of fragrant incense 
from their long-stemmed pipes in wliich were ahght 
the romance of the Virginia tobacco fields, while 
above the rude iron dogs with cheerful crackle 
crooned the Spirit of the Fire, anon suggesting the 
paUid winter sun, or as it burst into a hvelier blaze, 
the torrid heats of mid-August. One feels the grit 



THE SOKOKl TRAIL 355 

of the sanded floor under foot, and listens to the rude 
jokes that pass current with the hke rude yeomanry. 
This first tavern was located at Blue Point Ferry. 
Bedford was town constable in 1665, and the court 
records show that two years later he was reprimanded 
by the justices " for not keeping due order in reference 
to his ordinary." High times there must have been 
and not infrequently. In 1669 he has become more 
emboldened, and has made his taproom a taproom 
indeed. It was this year he was presented " for sell- 
ing beare and wyne." This was his second offense, 
but he appears to have slipped the leash of the law. 
In 1673 he was again presented, this time " for not 
providing a house of Intertaynment for strangers." 
This was obviated by his securing a legal permit 
from the selectmen. One pleasantly conjectures 
what sort of a sign hung at the corner of his gable. 
I imagine "Red Lane Tavern" would have been 
as good as any, for Bedford prospered in a way, and 
"red lane" was a favorite byway with his constitu- 
ents; for hard drinking in those days was common 
as is a temperate abstinence to-day. Whether one 
was born, married, or buried, the influence of the 
hour was pitched to the quantity of rum or Canary 
to be afforded. Bedford's Tavern was a common 
resort, though Bedford himself was far from being 
a popular townsman. It was a place for congenial 
spirits, for story telHng, and was frequented by 
farmer and fishermen alike. It is a traditional fact 
that his customers came from miles away, which 
were certainly shortened by their dry lips and liquid 



356 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

anticipations, to be as well curtailed on their ways 
homeward by the oblivion and the drunken humors 
imbibed from the numerous stoups of Bedford's 
providing. 

Bedford ended his tavern keeping in 1681 when 
he came to a sudden termination of his career, as 
was thought at the time, by violence. Suspicion 
was fastened upon Scottow, then the wealthiest man 
in the old town. Scottow was somewhat of a high- 
handed character, and Bedford was somewhat in 
disrepute. There had been words between the two, 
and an inquest was held in August of that year. 
The jury reported on the twenty-fourth day of that 
month, "Nathan Bedford's body being vewed and 
his corpes being searched by ye Jurie of Inquest, 
and Mr. ffowlman, a Chyargion, sd Jurie did not 
find any of these bruises about his head or body 
to bee mortall without drowning wch they judge to 
bee the cause of his death." In the following Sep- 
tember the court ordered further investigation and 
Scottow was summoned. In the record of May 30; 
1682, "Scottow Cleared" appears on the margin. 

The tale of contemporary trials for the taking of 
human life hereabout is limited to the presentment 
of James Robinson, the cooper, who was tried for 
the Collins murder, but which resulted in an acquittal. 
Scottow was a singular man. He was something of 
an Indian fighter, a member of the Boston Artillery 
Company, 1645, and a writer of tracts, and even 
books. 

It was in 1680 that the town was presented for not 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 357 

maintaining a ferry at Black Point River. One finds 
in the record of the court, 1682, "Wee psent the 
town of Bla: Poynt for not keeping a ferry at bla: 
Poynt River — The Court upon examination of the 
case acquit the Town of this presentment, and finds 
John Start as by testimony appearing hath under- 
taken ye ferry wrby hee stands lyable to answer 
any Neglect in ye Premises." Attached to this 
finding was an order to Scottow to put in a better 
ferryman. There were no roads. The seashore was 
the common highway, and these ferries were indis- 
pensable. In 1672 the court records show the fol- 
lowing entry, '' For the more convenient passage of 
strangers and others from Wells to Cascoe the expe- 
dition wrof is daly hindered by observance of ye 
Tyde in travelling ye lower way wch by this means 
may bee pvented, It is yrfore ordered by this Court 
yt ye Towns of W'ells, Sacoe, Scarborough, and Fal- 
mouth, shall forthwith marke out the most con- 
venient way from Wells to Hene: Sayward's Mills, 
from thence to Sacoe Falls, and from Sacoe ffalls to 
Scarborough above Dunstan, and from Scarborough 
to Falmouth." This was about the line of the old 
post-road over which the Portland stages went on their 
way to Boston. It was some years after this order 
before this highway was passable for travelers, but 
it was the beginning of the good roads movement, 
and as such should be remembered. 

It was in 1675 that the Indians began to be trouble- 
some, and after the incipient raid on the Purchas 
cabin at New Meadows River the alarm became 



358 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

general. It was in 1676 that Henry Jocelyn's house 
became the object of attack. It is averred that the 
Jocelyn manse stood over an old cellar very near 
what is now known as Garrison Cove above Cam- 
mock's Neck. It was a great house, and was forti- 
fied as a garrison, and it held the key to the Neck, 
being reputed to have been the strongest in the 
province. It was resorted to by the inhabitants 
indiscriminately, and, according to Hubbard, it might 
have been made to have withstood all the Indians in 
the province had it been properly defended. It was 
here, October, 1676, that a considerable force of 
Indians appeared under the leadership of Mugg. He 
was a famous chief and had mingled with the Eng- 
lish familiarly. He knew Jocelyn well, and with his 
Indian diplomacy left his hundred savages in covert 
and singly and alone approached the garrison which 
was under the immediate command of Jocelyn, in 
Scottow's absence, and proposed a "talk." Jocelyn 
accepted the proffer, and engaged for some length of 
time in a friendly conversation with Mugg, the con- 
clusion of which was that Jocelyn should surrender 
the garrison. Jocelyn returned to the garrison to 
submit the ultimatum of Mugg, to discover that its 
occupants other than his own people had taken to 
the boats and were safely away. It was "Hobson's 
choice" with Jocelyn, and he at once placed him- 
self under the protection of Mugg, who returned to 
his captives the same kindly offices he had been in 
the habit of receiving from them. The garrison 
in the hands of Mugg, the English abandoned the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



359 



town by the following November, but before the 
winter was out a peace was concluded between Mugg 
and the Massachusetts government, and the sixty- 
captives were redeemed. 

Jocelyn never returned to Black Point. The In- 
dians were troublesome adjuncts under Mugg, who 
broke his treaty at the first opportunity. This re- 



^./:^.^, 



^& 




:/')!|l|SI'i^|:f^:; 



d^ 






/111' 



SITE OF SCOTTOW'S FORT 



suited in the building of Scottow's Fort in 1681, a bit 
inland from Cammock's Neck. It grew as in a night, 
and was a famous stronghold. Its site may yet be 
distinguished by its remains which are not wholly 
obliterated. It was not until 1688 that the final blow 
fell upon Scarborough, when the last entry was made 
in its town records for that century. It remained for 
the plundering Andross to raid Castine's warehouses 
on the Penobscot and thus set the torch to the Indian's 
hand to light his way hither, when the sands of Scar- 
borough began to be saturated with the ruddy tide 



360 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

that was to consecrate it for all time as the "bloody- 
ground" of the pro\'incial days. This may be called 
the first settlement of Scarborough, otherwise to be 
recalled as that of Black Point. 

There is little left of its early history of a tangible 
sort. Even the graves of its early settlers are un- 
known. No relics are left of that earliest period. 
Lechford, writing of their burials, says, "At burials 
nothing is read, nor any funeral sermon made ; but all 
the neighborhood, or a good company of them, come 
together by the tolling of the bell, and carry the dead 
solemnly to the grave, and there stand by him while 
he is buried. The ministers are most connnonly pres- 
ent. The dead are buried, without so nmch as a 
prayer, in some convenient enclosure by the roadside." 
In Scarborough there was no bell to toll. A drum Avas 
used instead, and this by judicial order. The manner 
of conducting the funeral service in the days of early 
Black Point may have had less form than this. The 
site of the first church is located in the neighborhood 
of the "Black Rocks" on the upper ferry road in 
1663. This is on the east side of Libbey's River where 
it merges ^Adth the old Owascoag. It must have pro- 
fited by the services of Gibson, Jordan, and Jenner 
somewhat. 

The ecclesiastical affairs of these early days are as 
nmch swathed in tradition as authentic record. After 
"Master Jenner" there was an interegnum of several 
years, but how long is uncertain. The Rev. John 
Thorp was here somewhat before 1659 evidently, for 
in that year he was brought before the court by Robert 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 361 

Jordan and Henry Jocelyn for "preaching unsound 
doctrine." No doubt Thorp was of the Puritan cult, 
while the complainants were of the Episcopal belief. 
Further tradition has it that in 1665 Black Point had 
a settled minister who preached for an agreed salary, 
but it is silent as to his name, his creed, or the length 
of time he served his flock. This fact is substanti- 
ated by the record of suits against sundry individuals 
who refused to pay the " stypend" due from them for 
his support. These were Quakers, of whom Sarah 
Mills was one, and who was given "20 stripes" for 
her adherence to Quakerism. In 1668 this pastor had 
retired from the Black Point field. In May, 1668, 
the court ordered the inhabitants to procure a min- 
ister. That they did not obey is evident from the 
record that the town was again presented in 1669, 
also in 1670. In 1671 Black Point was being regu- 
larly supplied. 

In 1680 the Rev. Benjamin Blackman, a son-in-law 
of Captain Scottow, was settled here. Scottow gave 
him a deed of twenty-four acres of land at Dunstan 
for a parsonage and a glebe, but two years later Black- 
man had removed to Saco where he afterwards came 
to own nearly a quarter of the Saco township, and as 
well all the mills in the Bonython and Lewis settle- 
ment. 

The pastoral relations of the old town seem to have 
been something of an intermittent character, as if 
here were an arid soil and not peculiarly adapted to 
the raising of spiritual crops. It was much the same 
in the settlements of the time up and down the coast, 



362 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

unless one excepts York and Kittery. Its popula- 
tion was doubtless of a promiscuous character, made 
up largely of fishermen who had turned planters, who 
were of a bibulous disposition according to John 
Jocelyn. He says: "The People in the Province of 
Mayne may be divided into Magistrates, Husband- 
men, or Planters, and Fishermen — of the Magistrates 
some be Royahsts, the rest perverse spirits; the hke 
are the Planters and Fishers, of which some be Plant- 
ers and Fishers, others mere Fishers." 

These "perverse spirits" constituted the sum of 
Black Point's humanity. That it was a stony field 
overspread with a thin soil and not over resourceful 
in itself may well be believed. Then there was the 
strenuous struggle for an existence made more pre- 
carious by the common habit of indulgence in strong 
liquors. 

Jocelyn says further : " They have a custom of tak- 
ing tobacco, sleeping at noon, sitting long at meals, 
sometimes four times in a day, and now and then 
drinking a dram of the bottle extraordinarily: the 
smoaking of tobacco, if moderately used refresheth the 
weary much, and so doth sleep. The Physician allows 
but three draughts at a meal, the first for need, the 
second for pleasure, and the third for sleep; but httle 
observed by them unless they have no other liquor to 
drink but water." 

This note of Jocelyn's is a quaint and honest one, 
and gives the pitch to the old-time song of labor 
that made rich or sorely impoverished. It lets in a 
flood of hght on the ways of those days and one can 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 363 

imagine the sottishness, the satyr-Hke lubricity, the 
"boon-welcome," and hilarious settings of stage 
scenery that stared at the Black Point minister at 
every turn of the vision ; and the coarse ribaldry that 
confounded his hearing. It must have been exas- 
perating to "the cloth," and I surmise the clergyman 
had a right to get exasperated under stress, along with 
the rest of humanity, at this semi-inebriate atmos- 
phere of Black Point. Jocelyn in the same regard 
notes that when the merchant comes to buy their 
commodity which they have wrested from the sea 
or the land he pays for it, "in the midst of their 
voyages and at the end thereof," with liquor. The 
merchant "comes in mth a walking tavern, a Bark 
laden with the legitimate blood of the rich gi'ape, 
which they bring from Phial, Madera, Canaries, with 
Brandy, Rhum, the Barbadoes Strong water and 
Tobacco; coming ashore he gives them a Taster or 
two, which so charms them, that for no persuasion 
will they go to sea," or do other work until the spigot 
runs dry. It is a dark shadow, this, that stalks 
across the picture of the times that one likes to 
think of as pitched to the high key of a rugged thrift 
and a Hke sturdy honesty of manhood. Jocelyn's 
notes are the searchhghts of the period and must 
be taken as faithful transcripts of the prevaiUng 
habits and character of the people. It may have 
been that the unsettled state of poHtical affairs at 
this time, or from the interference of Massachusetts, 
down, had somewhat to do with the erratic course of 
ecclesiastical matters; for our annahst above quoted 



364 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

says of 1671, "The year being well spent, and the 
Government of the Pro\dnce turned topsy-turvy, 
being heartily weary, and expecting the approach of 
Winter, I took leave of my friends at Black Point, 
and on the 28th day of August shipt myself and my 
goods aboard of a shallop bound for Boston." Joce- 
lyn's observations at Black Point and the near vicin- 
ity covered a period of about eight years and a half, 
a sufficiently prolonged stay so that he may be con- 
sidered as writing of his own people. At this distance 
of time he seems a most loveable character. 

George Burroughs, the afterward wizard of Casco, 
was the next minister to come here, 1686, from Fal- 
mouth. The province records contain the following: 
" 30 March 1686. It is ordered by this Court yt the 
Re: Cor: to give notice to Mr. Burrows, minister of 
Bla: Poynt, to preach before the next General As- 
sembly at Yorke." It is unfortunate that the church 
records of the time were not preserved, and it may 
have been that such were kept only to be destroyed 
by the Indians in some one of their raids, as one 
cabin after another was put to the torch. The 
building of the first church is located in point of time 
before 1671. Tradition puts it about 1665. Henry 
Jocelyn locates its site very nearly. He writes of 
the superstition of the Indians "regarding a flame 
in the air from which they predicted a speedy death 
of some one dwelHng in the direction in which it first 
appeared." He saw this "flame" — to remark, "the 
first time that I did see it, I was called out by some 
of them about 12 of the clock, it being a very dark 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 365 

night; I perceived it plainly mounting into the air 
over our church, which was built upon a plain Httle 
more than half a quarter of a mile from our dwelhng- 
house." This would locate the site of the church 
in a northeast direction from Ferry Rocks, perhaps 
a half mile out upon the plain on the upper Ferry 
road. Other than this, its site is wholly conjectural. 

In 1681 occurred an episode of a somewhat prosaic 
nature, being a not unusual happening before and 
since in church parishes. A quarrel arose over the 
moving of the meeting house. The committee to 
whom it was left adjudicated "wee judge ye ffortifi- 
cation set up by ye Inhabitants of Scarborough in 
the plaine is both the safest and convenientest place 
for it." For four years the quarrel raged and the 
house was not moved. September 29, 1685, the 
court eUminated or rather annihilated the opposition 
by ordering a "fine of five pounds" to be levied on 
every person who should obstruct the placing of the 
meeting house on the spot selected for it, and Parson 
Burroughs began his parochian labors immediately 
thereafter, which were continued but for a limited 
space. With his departure, in the parish of Scar- 
borough, the spiritual field remained unplowed until 
1720. 

As before noted, Henry Jocelyn was not very active 
after 1668. He became somewhat embarrassed, for 
in 1663 he mortgaged all his property to Joshua Scot- 
tow of Boston, the consideration being the smn of 
three hundred and nine pounds, nineteen shillings, ten 
pence. In 1666, for the additional sum of one hun- 



366 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

dred eighty pounds sterling, he confirmed this mort- 
gage and made the fee absolute in Scottow. This 
included the whole of the Cammock grant at Black 
Point, together with the seven hundred and fifty acres 
granted him by Gorges, his "dwelhng house, out 
houses, fish houses, and stages, with other conven- 
iences." He lived in the new house built by him 
farther up the Owascoag until his capture by the Indi- 
ans. There is no record of his widow's death, but she 
went along with her husband to Pemaquid where he 
was in service under Governor Andross in an official 
capacity for the following six years, and where he died 
in the early part of 1683. Governor Andross wrote 
Ensign Sharpe at Pemaquid, September 15, 16S0, " I 
have answered yours of the 7th instant, except what 
relates to Mr. Jocelyn, whom I would have you use 
with all fitting respect considering what he hath been 
and his age. And if he desire and shall build a house 
for himself, to let him choose any lott and pay him 
ten pounds toward it, as also sufficient provision for 
himself and wife as he shall desire, out of the stores." 

Henry Jocelyn was the most distinguished man of 
his time within the Gorges palatinate, who was for a 
longer period and more actively engaged in public 
affairs than any other. As WilUs says, " Nothing has 
been discovered in the whole course of his eventful 
life which leaves a stain upon his memory": a just 
tribute to an eminent man. 

This is the story of Henry Jocelyn and a few of his 
contemporaries at Black Point, a story of days that 
now own to no remnant of its early importance, and 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 367 

nowadays offers a stretch of shore broken only here 
or there by clustered summer cottages whose dwellers 
find little in common with the protogeners of the 
locahty. Old Black Point exists only in name. It 
is the silent wand of a magician whose powers are 
dead with the hand that once wielded it. 

East or west, old Scarborough has no doorstep. 
One crosses the boundary Une as one would a seam in 
a house floor, without seeing it. On the north are 



,cs, I' l-'V"'^ ' X'' -^ 




THE SINUOUS NONSUCH 



the uplands of Oak Hill and Dunstans, crowned with 
a deciduous verdure that is a welcome relief after the 
low flat marshes that border the Spurwink, Nonsuch, 
and Dunstans' rivers. At the confluence of the two 
latter is the broad Owascoag that flows out or in as 
the tide serves between Cammock's Neck — better 
known in these days as Front's Neck — and Pine 
Point, which latter is the seaward extremity of old 
Blue Point. Along the edges of the marshes are 
fringes of low Norway pines broken with the dusky 



368 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

huddled spires of spruce, and behind these are the 
gently rolling uplands brilliant with tourmaline colors 
that give a rare tonic quaUty to the wide-reaching 
landscape. Scarborough is a locality of magnificent 
distances, its miles upon miles of marshes seamed 
with tide creeks and rivers that gleam like threads of 
blued steel entangled in a mesh of living verdure. 
Here or there a ghstening white sail tops the green 
levels like a fleck of cloud that has dropped from the 
sky. 

It is a beautiful country, and a picturesque, aside 
from its attraction for the antiquary. 

If one has an inclination to search out the foot- 
prints of a bygone people perhaps the Scarborough 
Beach station is as good a place to pick up the trail 
as any other, if one comes by rail. It is a good four 
mile saunter to the extremity of Cammock's Neck, 
which is dominated by a modern hostelry much fre- 
quented by summer idlers. Halfway thither, one 
crosses the first landmark of the olden days, which is 
nothing less than a sinuous salt creek that winds in 
and out the salt meadows, to keep on to the uplands 
to the eastward. There was an ancient corn mill on 
this creek and it was located near the highway, the 
first to be built in old Scarborough. It was running 
in 1663, and it was a very important accessory to the 
community in the days when the corn and rye had to 
be taken to Boston to be ground, else it was pounded 
into coarse meal in the old-fashioned samp mill, which 
was nothing but a huge block of wood hollowed out 
with hot coals, and a hke unwieldy pestle hung to a 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 369 

diminutive sweep. This stream is Libby's River, 
for it was here that old John Libby set his cabin. 
This John Libby was from Broadstairs, County of 
Kent, England. Broadstairs was a little coast tow^n 
some fifteen miles from Canterbury. He was of the 
posterity of Reginald Labbe, an EngUshman, who 
died in 1293, the inventory of whose estate is worth 
the recalhng and the writer quotes : " Reginald Labbe 







^mn 



'^^^L,'<- 










LIBBEY'S RIVER, NEAR SITE OF CORN MILL 

died worth chattels to the value of thirty-three shill- 
ings and eight pence, leaving no ready money. His 
goods comprised a cow and calf, two sheep and three 
lambs, three hens, a bushel and a half of wheat, a 
seam of barley, a seam of dragge or mixed grain, a 
seam and a half of fodder, and one half-pennyworth 
of salt. His wardrobe consisted of a tabard, a tunic 
and hood; and his 'household stuffe' of a bolster, a 
rug, two sheets, a brass dish, and a tripod or trivet. . . 
Possessing no ready money, his bequests were made 



370 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

in kind. A sheep worth tewpence is left to the ' High 
Aulter' of the church at Newton, and another of the 
same value to the Altar and fabric fund of the church 
at 'Eakewood.' His wife Yda received a moiety of 
the testator's cow, which was valued at five shilUng, 
and Thos. Fitz Neoregs was a copartner in its calf to 
the extent of a fourth. . . . The expences of his fun- 
eral, proving the will, &c. were more than one-third 
of the whole property. The charge for digging his 
grave, was an even penny; for tolUng the bell, two- 
pence; for making the will, sixpence; and for probat- 
ing it, eight pence." 

It is a morsel of its kind, and a rare morsel at that, 
with its "half-pennyworth of salt," and its "seam" 
— horse load or eight bushels — " and a half of fod- 
der." The name Libby is found differently spelled 
Iderji sonans seems sufficient. One finds it sometimes 
Luby. 

Stopping for a moment upon the bridge over Libby's 
River one looks westward to see the marshes widen out 
into the low horizon of Pine Point, while to the east- 
ward the stream offers the charm and seclusion of a 
trout brook with its broidery of birches and maples; 
for the meadow narrows as if about to impart some 
rare confidence of Nature, and twists and turns with 
an ever-varying and pleasing perspective. 

A fourth of a mile farther on toward the Neck is 
the road that turns sharply eastward to lead one to 
olden Spurwink, where Ambrose Boaden kept a ferry 
that ran across to Robert Jordan's and the toll was 
twopence a trip for cash, but if the traveler had his 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 371 

ferriage "booked" it was one pence more. But the 
reader has ah-eady found his way to the Isle of Bacchus 
and the country appurtenant, and one is not to be 
diverted from the way to Cammock's Neck ; for it was 
from this latter locality emanated the earhest influ- 
ences from a human point of view. Leaving the 
Spurwink road to the left, once past a bit of shady 
woodland, one comes out upon a low, wood-colored 
house that of itself has no historic interest, except that 
at the easterly edge of the garden, growing almost under 
the shadow of its easterly gable, not many years ago 
could have been traced the star-shaped scarp of Scot- 
tow's Fort, which after the breaking out of the first 
Indian war became a place of refuge for the settlers, 
and about the palisaded walls of which skulked the 
savage Sacoes with sinister fortune. 

Adjoining the plantation of old John Libby hved 
Christopher Collins, who was supposed to have been 
murdered, for which supposed crime one James Rob- 
inson, the Black Point cooper, was indicted June 26, 
1666; but at his Majesty's court, "houlden at Cascoe," 
the grand jury found " that the sayd ColHns was slayne 
by misadventure, and culpable of his own death, and 
not upon anie former maHce." Robinson was ac- 
quitted. Colhns left a son, Moses, who was afterward 
given twenty stripes for being a Quaker. It was a 
year after the mysterious death of Christopher Col- 
lins that Joshua Scottow of Boston made his first pur- 
chase of land in Scarborough. It was a part of the 
Colhns plantation. Scottow afterward came to own 
nearly all that part of the Black Point settlement. 



372 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

It was in 1681 Scottow began the building of his 
fort, and it was at this time Thomas Danforth, as 
president of Maine, conveyed to Joshua Scottow, 
Walter Gendall, Richard Hunnewell, William Bur- 
ridge, Andrew Brown, Ambrose Boaden, and John 
Tenny, as trustees, the extensive tow^nship of Scar- 
borough. The deed of trust bears date as of July 26, 
1684. Scottow was the heaviest taxpayer, his assess- 
ment being laid at £3 lis. 4d. 

The Scarborough settlers had largely located about 
Swett's Plains, through which part of Black Point the 
reader has come to reach Libby's River, and it was 
to form a nucleus of common safety Scottow was to 
erect his fort. Scottow gave the land about the fort 
between Moore's Brook and the southeast end of 
Great (Massacre) Pond to the extent of two hundred 
acres to the town on which the inhabitants should at 
once settle, two acres being allotted to each family, 
the houses to be set in alignment, and no one nearer 
the fort than eight rods. It was the same plan pur- 
sued at Cascoe. Black Point was at the height of 
its prosperity, but there were clouds in the sky, and 
they gathered and broke with a terrible finality about 
the 21st of May, 1688; for that day notes the last entry 
in the town records for the seventeenth century. And 
it was after the fall of Cascoe, 1690, that Scottow Fort 
was deserted, as were all the other garrisons east of 
the Saco. 

There are some curios in the little wood-colored 
house, Indian relics, skulls, and copper plates taken 
from Indian graves, which one is allowed to look upon. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



373 



perhaps. This Great Pond is a sheet of fresh water. 
It is a bit farther along the road to the Neck and it is 
a pleasing feature of the flat landscape. Great Pond 
and Massacre Pond are one and the same, and it takes 
its name from a tragic episode that occurred in the 
fall of 1713. News of the Peace of Utrecht had just 
come to the settlers, who supposed that the savages 
had withdrawn to their wilds among the woods of 
St. Famille. A party of twenty settlers left the garri- 



■jcfiA'-:-:~:>:'^^ <''^- -^ 







MASSACRE POND 



son on the Neck to go after the cattle which had 
roamed at large during the summer, and among them 
was Richard Hunnewell, the Indian fighter. Hunne- 
well was at the head of the little squad, and other than 
Hunnewell, who had a pistol, the remainder were 
wholly unarmed. Among the alders in the edge of 
Great Pond two hundred Indians were hidden in 
ambuscade. As Hunnewell and his companions 
passed the place of savage concealment, a hundred 
muskets blazed and roared and nineteen of the unwary 



374 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

settlers fell. A single man escaped to the garrison to 
tell the murderous tale. They were buried in a com- 
mon grave in a little field on the Neck. 

Hunnewell was a terror to the savages. His cour- 
age was of the indomitable sort, and his hatred of the 
Indian after the slaying of his wife and child by them 
was unappeaseable. They feared him as they did 
Harmon and Charles Pine, to whom these three white 
men bore charmed lives. In their encounters with 
the settlers the savages must have suffered severely, 
for the skeletons of seventeen savages were dug from 
a common grave within the sound of the lapping 
waters of Massacre Pond, and not far from there Hun- 
newell fell into the ambuscade. 

Almost two centuries after, a man was plowing 
over these fields and his rude share turned a skull out 
upon the furrow. The happening got abroad, as such 
things will, and upon a careful excavation these skel- 
etons were found buried in a sitting posture, and over 
the heads of some of them were discovered the copper 
plates already alluded to — the grewsome mementos 
of some unwritten foray, the story of which was buried 
in the old graveyard in the deeps of the stunted pines 
that stretch away toward the Black Rocks, Blue Point 
way. 

As one goes up and down these byways of old Scar- 
borough it is not easy to lay the phantoms of the old 
days that come unbidden to keep one company with 
the fresh winds that blow over the salty marshes ; for 
it was along the arable lands that border these low 
levels that the episodes of the lean days in ancient 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 375 

Scarborough's history press upon the recollection; 
and one hears phantom steps by his side as he walks, 
keeping to these footpaths that have grown into mod- 
ern thoroughfares. It is not far from Massacre Pond 
to where Cammock had his clustered roofs. A turn 
in the road and the wide Owascoag gleams south- 
ward in the sun, and the wide-spreading bare sands 
stretch from Ferry Rocks to Ferry Place Point with 
the tide at ebb. 

One looks upon the picture of the drowsy sunlit sea 
and shore with half shut eyes, and sees the low roofs of 
Cammock's manse, with these shifting sands at his 
right. A row of ancient willows lifts a verdant screen 
against the garish yellow of the sand bar, and it is only 
a stone's toss away to the left a little hollow is pointed 
out as the place where Cammock planted his roof tree. 
Almost under the drip of the eaves of the whilom 
Front's Neck House, a weather-stained hostelry within 
the shadows of its magnificent elms and willows, was 
Cammock's great barn. It is but a few yards from 
this to the uneven lines of the old Cammock cellar 
just by the corner of a dishevelled board fence where 
the weeds show a vagrant bloom in the brilliant sun- 
shine. One stops for a httle to conjure up the Eng- 
lish-patterned home of Cammock, and this nephew of 
the Enghsh Warwick along with his contemporaries. 
Winter, Cleeve, Vines, and Jocelyn, comes to keep one 
cheerful company, and a rare quintette of ancient 
story makers they are, with John Jocelyn to keep tabs 
on their gossipings of horned snakes, mermans, and 
other monstrosities. 



376 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Looking through the break in these willows above 
the shore, planted undoubtedly by Cammock or John 
Larrabee and their ilk, one sees the grass-colored dunes 
of Ferry Place, a curving uneven line of sun-bleached, 
wind-driven grits where the Algers had their flake 
yards, and near by which Henry Jocelyn built him 
a goodly house after the fair Margaret Cammock had 
become Margaret Jocelyn. It was at the end of this 
point the Ferry road terminated. In 1658 the Owas- 
coag and Spurwink ferries were established by law. 
Boaden had set up his ferry at Spurwink, but it was 
somewhere about 1673 the court indicted the town 
for not providing a ferry across the wider Owascoag, 
and the order was made : " In reference to ye ferry, Its 
ordered yt the Town shall take course with the ferry- 
man to pvide a good boate or Conows sufficient to 
transport horses and to have 9d for horse and man, 
and 6d for ferring ym over, and Sacoe River to have 
ye same allowance." 

Old Scarborough, hke her sister settlements along 
the York River and Kittery shore, owns to its tradi- 
tional witch, and it may be said to possess not a few 
of the younger generation of to-day. But the story 
of the uneasy soul that sleeps, so it is related by some 
of Scarborough's antiquarians of the modern school, 
in one of Scarborough's burying grounds, and of the 
venturesome man who essayed to shear the witch's 
mound of its shag of hirsute verdure, is of the most 
nebulous character. If there were ever haunted 
houses in the old town to make the nuclei of hair- 
raising tales, the ghosts have been laid long since. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 377 

There is, however, a tradition that chngs to Ferry 
Place that may be worth the telhng. Who the inhu- 
man ferryman was is not related, but he was fond of 
his fire, his mug, and his pipe, when the storm sprites 
drove the slant rain up the Owascoag, better even 
than the toll for his ferriage. It came about one 
night, when the wind and rain beat in upon the shift- 
ing sands of Scarborough River, an unlucky wight 
found himself upon the Blue Point shore without 
companionship or shelter. 

Across the storm-roughened waters and through 
the rack of the driving wet he saw the glimmer of 
the ferryman's light, and, fearsome of the treacherous 
sands, with the night shutting down so impenetrably 
about him, he cried out through the lull in the tempest, 
"Ho there, ferryman!" 

Thrice his voice spanned the boisterous waters, and 
thrice the ferryman ignored his hail. 

"Ho there, ferryman!" 

Weird and shrill smote the hail on the ferryman's 
ears above the din of the tempest. He left his pipe 
and mug. As he pulled the bobbin the latch flew up ; 
the door flew open and the wind and wet blew in. 
There he stood and listened, but he heard only the 
wail of the wind and the swash of the troubled waters. 

"What fool's abroad on such a night!" he shouted. 

" Get to your boat, ferryman, I must cross the river ! 
Ho, ferryman!" came down the wind, 

" Cross the river as you will, an' you may go to the 
devil if you will, but I'll not put over the stream this 
night!" shouted the ferryman through his hands; and 



378 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



he went in to his fire, leaving the traveler to the drip- 
ping winds and his own devices. 

When the ferryman's hearth had grown gray and 
the fire in his pipe had gone out and he could see the 
bottom of his mug, he went to bed, but not to sleep, 
with the storm beating upon the low gable of his hut 
and the shrill cries of the stranded traveler sounding 
in his ears. The next morning he was up with the 




FERRY PLACE, SITE OF JOHN JOCELYN'S HOUSE, GARRISON COVE 



dawn and going down to the shore, as he peered 
through the misty drizzle he stumbled over the stark 
corpse of the traveler where the waves had thrown it 
up in mute rebuking for his inhumanity. The body 
was buried in the now unmarked graveyard, under the 
stunted pines amid the slant unlettered stones. But 
now the old stones have disappeared, carried off by 
impious hands to find ignoble resting places in one 
and another of the neighboring cellar walls. Like the 
site of Henry Jocelyn's old manor house, and the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 379 

church that stood by the ferry road, and the Alger 
flake yard, the ancient graveyard is obhterate. So is 
the ferryman, but when the storm swoops down upon 
the Owascoag and the winds are high, the gale even 
now thrills with the cries of the tempest-beaten trav- 
eler, and this ferryman, long since gathered to his 
fathers, answers the hail. All one can make of these 
mouthings is, "Go to the devil, go to the devil!" 
And like old Trickey of the York shore, who wears out 
every storm with his futile imprecations as he vainly 
ties the elusive sands with his " More rope! more rope!" 
so the ferryman pushes his boat into the teeth of the 
gale and through the pall of the night, to and fro, 
across the stream, with the dank corpse of the traveler 
at his feet; else he stands a specter within the lintels 
of his long vanished hut as he listens for the empty 
hail. When the storm is over the hght goes out, the 
spectral cries cease, and the ghost of the ferryman 
and his spectral boat are burned away with the mists. 
If one \\ill look at the map of Blue Point the dotted 
line will be noted leading away from the main road as 
now followed to Cammock's Neck and toward the 
Black Rocks. There is still a rut through the low 
pines and white sands, and it leads one past the site 
of the first church and out through the old flake yards 
to Ferry Place, where Timothy Prout had his ferry 
house and some quaint huts of the fisher folk who 
may be seen any day going in their dories to the fish- 
ing grounds outside, or coming in as it may happen. 
Other than these huts of the fishermen there is noth- 
ing here but the sand dunes, unless one notes a hollow 



380 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

in the sod at the edge of the wood a httle off the high- 
road, the single footprint of a once human habitation, 
possibly that of Henry Jocelyn, though it would seem 
too far away from Ferry Place for such to be true. 
Jocelyn's house looked out upon Garrison Cove, and 
from this old cellar to the cove would be a consider- 
able stretch of the vision with a clear vista cut through 
the pines. 

About Cammock's Neck was the most considerable 
settlement of Black Point, and over by Jocelyn's was 
where Nathan Bedford had his ordinary or tavern. 
He was the ferryman as well, but later went over to 
Spurwink. His high-backed settle and his great fires 
were very attractive and were much frequented by 
the settlers. He kept good "beere and wyne," and 
he sold it, for which the court brought him up once 
or twice with a round turn, but without much effect 
evidently. It was a leisurely jog affected by the trav- 
elers of those days, when carts were unknown and 
everybody was in the saddle and Bedford carried on 
a thriving trade. Like that of Christopher Collins, 
his end was involved in some mystery and there were 
hints of a foul crime, as has been heretofore noted, in 
which Captain Scottow became involved. Not far 
from Bedford's tavern was a garrison. It may have 
been that in which Henry Jocelyn was captured when 
his retainers had put out to sea in his last boat, leav- 
ing him in the lurch to make his peace with the savage 
Mogg. It may have been the garrison built by John 
Larrabee in 1702 upon his return to Cammock's Neck, 
after the savage onslaughts following 1690 when he 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 381 

sailed into Garrison Cove to anchor near the Ferry- 
Rocks. It was located very nearly where the Front's 
Neck House now stands and was considered to have 
been the most favorably located for defense of all the 
Black Foint garrisons. It was probably John Larra- 
bee's fort, as there seems to be no mention of a prior 
occupancy of any part of the immediate vicinity for 
a Hke purpose. It was in this year of 1702 that 
"Queen Anne's War" broke out. A truce had been 
patched up with the Tarratines, but it was immedi- 







BLACK ROCKS, SITE OF ALGER'S FLAKE-YARD 

ately broken by the appearance before the Larrabee 
Fort of five hundred French and Indians under the 
French Beaubasin. Beaubasin demanded an imme- 
diate surrender of the place, but Captain Larrabee, 
with only eight available fighting men, refused to 
capitulate. Situated as it was upon the bluff above 
the shore, Beaubasin at once saw the feasibility of 
undermining, and at once set about the work. The- 
bank is as steep and as high to-day as it was then and 
the miners were utterly without the range of the mus- 
kets of those in the fort. Murmurs arose among the 



382 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

men in the fort, some of whom were incHned to sur- 
render, but Larrabee sternly asserted that he would 
shoot the first man who should again venture the word 
surrender, and the cowardice was at once rooted out. 
They patiently awaited the moment when the miners 
should reach the cellar of the fort, but that moment 
did not ensue, for a great rainstorm came and the 
mine caved and filled, and the savages as they wrought 
were at the mercy of the muskets of the fort. Shortly 
after, the French and Indians withdrew and Larrabee 
and his little force had maintained a successful de- 
fense, but Spurwink and Pine Point had been com- 
pletely desolated. It was such incidents as the above, 
though without the terrible odds, that the Black 
Point settler found stalking up to his threshold down 
to 1745, and that they were strenuous as well as peril- 
ous times is certain. Lean days they were of a surety. 
Cammock's Neck is of considerable area, comprising 
perhaps a hundred and twelve acres, in the main well 
set up, with high wide outlook, excellent for tillage, 
and as delightful a spot to idle away a summer as any 
other on the Maine coast. It is picturesquely beau- 
tiful, for the outer shores are masked by ragged 
boulders and jagged ledges, with only Stratton's and 
Bluff islands in the middle foreground to break a 
limitless sea prospect. A riant verdure crowns the 
land edge and there is a sinuous path one may follow 
through the odorous bayberry bushes along the crest 
of the Kirkwood cliffs and its surf-beaten rocks, olive- 
painted with masses of seaweed, around to Castle 
Rocks, which are overlooked by a trio of beautiful 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



383 



summer homes, where Nature has been lavish with her 
wilding bounty, for she has no need of an Olmstead 
to curtail or enhance the abandon of her garmsliing 
this beauty spot. The outlook from the httle foot- 
bridge that spans a curious fissure in the rocks is unsur- 
passed, unless from the veranda of the Evans cottage. 
As a vantage point for the dreamer it is superb. From 
foreground to horizon Une where the pearl gray mists 




CASTLE ROCKS, PROUT'S BEACH 

weave the receding or incoming sails into argosies of 
romance, every ripple of the placid sea is a hne in 
the poetry of Nature, to be translated only by the 

mystic. . , 

To the left is John Jocelyn's cave and the wide 
sweep of Front's Beach, a gracefully bending ribbon 
of yellow sand that reaches around to Hubbard's 
Rocks almost, and beyond is Higgins' Beach and the 
foaming bar at the mouth of the Spurwink, the Buena 
Vista where in the days of Cromwell, Robert Jordan 



384 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

kept open house, and where began that long hne of his 
descendants that seems to have held to all the tradi- 
tions and characteristics of its ancestors. Up, over 
and beyond Front's Beach the old fighting ground 
about Scottow's Fort is in plain sight, while directly- 
fronting the vision is Richmond's Island, reaching 
out its verdurous length from off the Cape Ehzabeth 
shore toward the seaward mists. One recalls George 
Richmon, who is identified nominis umbra with this 
disintegrate vertebrae of old mother earth showing 
above the blue of its surrounding waters, its first occu- 
pant after the visit of Champlain twenty years earlier 
who found its grapes so delicious. Upon the heels of 
Richmon crowds "Black Walt" Bagnall, the royster- 
ing Tom Morton of Merrymount, and the grasping 
John Winter, who swallowed the whole Trelawney 
patent at a gulp. 

It was from Richmond's Island that Winter, greedy 
of everything his eyes compassed, made his forays 
into Cammock's meadows along the banks of the 
Spurwdnk when the wild grasses were in bloom, for 
the former was not averse to making hay whether the 
sun was out or in, as George Cleeve found to his cost 
a year later. The Episcopal, Richard Gibson, fared 
no better than Cleeve. His unappreciation of the 
charms of the fair Sarah Winter ousted him from his 
rectory here, for Winter, soured at his neglect of so 
excellent an opportunity for wedlock, practically 
starved the clerygman both in stomach and purse, so 
that the latter was compelled to betake himself to 
" Pascataquay." Those were days when instead of 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



385 



a lone house amid treeless acres a hundred smokes 
clambered up the invisible ladders of the air of a 
morning as the fisher folk were astir; when for a single 
sail luffing up to its anchorage were two score of Eng- 
lish bottoms, their holds bulging with the finely woven 
stuffs of England and the choice vintages of Spain, 
and that afterward sailed away laden to their scuppers 
with rich furs, salt fish, and pipe staves. 




SOUTHGATE HOUSE, DUNSTAN ABBEY 



Stirring times, indeed, prevailed at Richmond's 
Island for the fifteen years prior to 1645, but somno- 
lent enough in these days of steel thoroughbreds by 
land and sea; for along the line of sea and sky, for a 
glint of snowy sail is a low-lying trail of smoke ; and 
for the ring of a horseshoe on the rocks is the shriek 
of the midday express, pounding across the trestle 
over the Owascoag, that flies across the meadows. 



380 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Bedford's tavern and the Blue Point ferry are a dream, 
for the disihusiomnent is complete; but noisy, bustliui:, 
iconoclastic To-day needs no sponsor, and may well 
be forgotten with nothing better than a tennis racquet 
or a golf stick to punctuate its tale of sunnner idleness. 

These sturdy lichened rocks and yellow si\nds and 
sleepy marsh lands of Canunock's Neck are potent 
romancers and are redolent with stirring memories 
from which the poor world has striven hard to tiy 
away, forgetful of ancestral traditions and ancestral 
beginnings. If the schoolboy has his history book it 
is siidly deficient in much he should be taught, espe- 
cially the Scarborough school urchin, and redundant 
in nmcli rubbishy lumber. It is not unlikely should 
these old garrison sites, these Hke ancient cellars and 
landmarks of Jocelyn's days, be designated by some 
generous soul by tablets of wood or metal, that not 
only would the mental acti\ities and local pride of its 
youth be quickened, but the stranger within the gates 
would hnd his entertainment doubled and time to 
hang less heavily on his hands. A propos of this is 
the remark di-opped by the yomig man who drove 
me along the old Southgate toll road to the site of 
^'aughn's garrison. I had made a pencil sketch of 
the place and as we returned to Oak Hill he asked, 
" Do you think making pictures of these old places 
amomits to much?" 

"Not to the masses, possibly, but to the sa\'ing 
remnant a very great deal," I rephed. 

"I don't see anything in it," he responded with an 
assimiption of matm"e ^^isdom. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 387 

"That is your misfortune, my friend," I suggested. 

Then I inquired, "You are a native?" 

"Yes " 

"And do you know who built this road across the 

salt marsh into Dunstan's? " 

"Why the town of Scarborough, of course! 

"No old Robert Southgate built it and exacted a 
toll of 'all who used it. Your town road ran farther 
north through the woods and was the longer way 
around. Later on the town acquired the road over 
the marsh. That is interesting, is it not?" _ 

" B'crackee! I should say 'twas!" was the genmnely 
surprised exclamation. 

" That goes with the ' pictures.' " 

"Say Mister, I'll have t' read that book o' yourn! 
and the' sincerity of his voice was an assurance of his 

interest. 

One should be able to say to himself — 

" Mine eyes make pictures when they're shut," 

and along these byways of old Scarborough the pic- 
tures hang in time-worn shreds to be sure, but pictures 
nevertheless. They are painted along the sedge of 
the marshes; etched upon the shifting sands^of the 
shore- graved upon the adamant ledges, and brushed 
into the bending verdure of the fields. They break 
upon the vision at every turn of the road. They 
hang from every bush. They flash suggestion from 
the sunlit creeks; and out and in, over and across 
these old places one may beUeve, if one likes, that old 
John Stratton and Cammock and all their compeers 



388 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

keep to these familiar and unfamiliar paths with noise- 
less footsteps, mayhap brushing against one as they 
pass, and one says, '' It is the wind ! " They peer into 
one's face out of eyeless sockets and their hands 
reach out and one says, "It is a strand of spider's 
web." Subtile voicings fill the ear to startle one to a 
backward glance to see only his shadow, empty and 
silent at his feet. It is an uncanny thought, but there 
is a sudden chill in the air, a creepy feel of the flesh, 
a quickening of one's feet, and a longing for one's 
own kind. 







A MODERN BYWAY OF OLD SCARBOROUGH 

If one goes over the ground and along the ghost 
walks of Black Point, as did the writer, he will find 
himself at the end of his delightful jaunt at the turn 
of the Spurwink road and half way to the station, 
which is an easy walk of two miles. Half way along 
on his return journey, he will be able to locate the old 
church which was built in 1741 or thereabout, and 
on the opposite side of the road the famous Ring tav- 
ern, the contemporary of the old Stroudwater tavern 
kept by the Broads, and a place of noted hospitahty 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



389 



in those hospitable days. Ring was here about 1728 
and was one of the sixteen original members of the 
Black Point church. The fame of his old inn extended 
beyond the borders of old Black Point, for Parson 
Smith, in his journal under the date of February 4, 
1763, notes the setting out on "a froUc to Ring's of 
Brigadier Preble, Col. Waldo, Capt. Ross, Doct. Coffin, 
Nathl. Moody and their wives and Tate, and are not 
yet got back, nor hke to be, the roads being not pass- 




-•J&S^.^S^% 






HEAD OF ALGER'S CREEK, NEAR SITE OF WESTBROOK'S MILL 




able." The Tate here mentioned was not unlikely 
WilHam Tate, the trader at Stroud water. Parson 
Smith notes on the 11th, February, "Our frohckers 
returned from Black Point, having been gone just ten 
days." They were snowbound, and the Ring larder 
was sorely taxed, for the snow was five feet deep on a 
level and " mountainously drifted on the clear 
ground." Southgate says, "Ring's tavern was on 
the corner opposite the old meeting house, just where 
the road to the Clay Pit meets the highway." But 



390 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

time has not been so forbearing of this famous inn as 
of its Stroudwater ilk, for it Hves only in tradition, 
while the latter holds its rooftree as stoutly to its 
ample chimneys as a hundred years ago when the 
coaches began to run between Falmouth, Portsmouth, 
and Boston, cleaving the shadows of the Broad elms 
as they went to and fro, while the former was nearly 
three miles off the stage line. They were famous 
hostelries in their day, nor could they be less with such 
Falstafhan landlords as Silas Broad and David Ring. 

All day afoot, the ghost of the old Ring tavern sug- 
gested meat and drink. The vision of John Winter 
brewing his English malt and basting Michael Myt- 
ton's ducks wore a savory shadow, but it is not to. be 
doubted but the whilom spigot of the Black Point inn 
dripped as good ale and its roaring fires turned as 
toothsome a roast. Not being a disciple of Mrs. 
Eddy the feehng of physical weariness, hunger, and 
thirst was insistent. At the typical country store 
which overlooked the station lamps that were show- 
ing their first flicker a modern Hebe served me with 
a bottle of ginger ale which was broached with a feel- 
ing of mild satisfaction, although the carbonated con- 
coction was something like a platitude of speech, 
commonplace but wet, yet it could be identified 
without special effort. 

The following morning early, the train dropped me 
at the Scarborough station, with Winnock's Neck as 
an objective. Two options offered by way of ap- 
proach to the Neck. There was the highroad around 
by the ancient Hunnewell house ; as to the other, there 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



391 



was opportunity to turn hobo and to take to the ties 
for a mile to a private crossing, when a turn to the 
right through a swale and up a slight rise would reveal 
the site of the once Plummer garrison on Winnock's 
Neck. As one approaches Winnock's Neck by the 
railway tracks one is struck with its picturesque dis- 
position, the huddle of gray roofs amid their orchard 
tops, where from a trio of ruddy chimneys the smokes 




4- k . 



of the morning fires curl lazily up into the September 
air. It has the look of an English landscape. On 
either hand are the low marshes stretching away into 
vistas of slow disappearing mists. It is a picture 
at once charming and idylhc, for the low sloping ver- 
dure of the Neck and the adjacent marsh lands fill 
the perspective. 

Fifteen minutes of hobo tramping through such a 
delectable scenery, and pad and pencil were busy, with 
the dew still on the gi-ass and the apple tree that grew 



392 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

in the edge of the old Phimmer cellar, the marsh in 
the middle foreground and the brown stacks of marsh 
grass strung along the Nonsuch, and the farther woods 
massed against the horizon were mine. This is old 
Plaisted Point, but Plaisted had his house to the 
northward on this same east side of the Neck. There 
is, however, a plainly marked cellar on the west side 
of the Neck on the slope of the Ohver field, which is 
pointed out as the site of the Plaisted garrison, but 
which is more likely to have been the cellar of the old 
Winnock house, as it is almost exactly the location 
of John Winnock in 1665. His house was near the 
Indian village, which was just over the pasture fence 
and where one sees what has always been known as 
Indian Knoll. A stone's throw away in the edge of 
the marsh there are considerable heaps of shells which 
suggest the Damariscotta deposits, though less in num- 
ber and size. Here, too, was the burying ground of 
the savages where two skeletons were unearthed per- 
haps a generation ago. 

Some interest attaches to the Oliver farmhouse, for 
in it are two doors once a part of the Plaisted garrison, 
and their story is held with Sphinx-like tenacity 
within the tiny peripheries of two bullet holes made 
in some savage assault, possibly that same day Mrs. 
Plaisted found twenty painted savages at her cabin 
door. Her husband had gone down the Nonsuch 
after fish and the courageous Tvife had been left at 
home with a child of four years as her sole compan- 
ion. The savages had surrounded the cabin and 
were forcing the door when she discovered her danger. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 393 

But her wits were equal to her peril ; for she began call- 
ino- out to her neighbors as if they had been actually 
present, names of those feared by the savages as wily 
Indian fighters, giving orders for defense to one and 
another of her imaginary companions, ratthng the 
iron ramrod noisily in the barrel of her husband's 
musket, while the child upset the chairs and every- 
thing else movable, under the elder woman's direc- 
tion The ruse was successful and the savages took 
to their heels after a shot or two at the Plaisted door. 
Such was the woman whose last resting place is un- 
marked and unnoted. 

Living in this farmhouse is Mrs. Oliver, almost four- 
score and ten, one of the old school women, the winter 
of whose age has not affected the mild comeliness of 
her features; for she must have been once a hssome, 
handsome girl, one of those of whom it may be truth- 
fully said : 

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
Her infinite variety. " 

I felt at once a profound reverence for this woman, 
not only for the things she had forgotten, for 

"prayer books are the toys of age, " 

things which I desired to know, but as well for the 
pleasing coincidence that her maiden surname was 
my own, and that coming from the Truro branch she 
was closely aUied to my ancestry. Her son, who is 
attached to the railway service at the Scarborough 
station, I found to be a man whose knowledge of local 



394 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



sites, old roads, and boundaries appertaining to the 
Black Point country was not only extensive but accu- 
rate and suggestive of antiquarian tastes. It was a 
profitable acquaintance I had with him for he showed 
me a curious old chart which I much desired to repro- 
duce with Ms comment, but for want of space it was 
not allowable. He located two ancient mill dams on 
the Nonsuch which do not appear on the ancient 
charts of Black Point, one of which was just above 




OLD RICHARD HUNNEWELL HOUSE 



the adjacent bridge over that tide river. He told me 
they were very ancient as in his boyhood they had 
the appearance of to-day. According to Southgate 
there were several saw mills on the Nonsuch, which 
was well timbered. 

From the foot of the Oliver field is the semi-oblit- 
erate trail of an ancient road that skirted the Mill 
creek marshes and that came out by Vaughn's garri- 
son, making almost a straight cut through the woods 
to the Dunstan's Corner highway, but it was neap 
tide and one would have needed duck's feet to have 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 395 

followed it over the marshes. It was left to keep to 
the flat road that winds lazy hke along the wooded 
edge of Winnock's Neck on its east side and that ends 
in the broad thoroughfare that runs from Oak Hill 
to Front's Neck. Where the Winnock's Neck road 
turns into thje main road is the ancient Hunnewell 
house, reputed to be the oldest in Scarborough and 
as having been built by Richard Hunnewell, the Indian 
fighter, who was killed in the ambuscade at Massacre 
Pond. I regard it, however, as more closely identified 
with his son Roger who lived here many years. This 
house is typical of the times of its builder. It is a 
compact, low-posted, red-painted domicile with a trio 
of narrow shts of windows in its blunt gables, a narrow 
door with a like narrow window on either flank. Its 
interior is ancient enough and odorous of the old days, 
and while one stands upon its worn floor boards one 
conjures in vain the ghosts of its forbears. Out- 
wardly it has a prone and helpless look, while its win- 
dows like browless eyes meet the stranger with a 
meaningless stare as if with the demise of the Hunne- 
wells its soul had taken flight as well. Its influence 
is of the depressing sort to make one shudder involun- 
tarily at the fate of the mother and her babe whose 
life currents stained this self same threshold possibly. 
This main road leads one into the charming purUeus 
of Oak Hill where one comes out upon the trolley 
Hne from Portland to Old Orchard and Saco. If it 
were once true that all roads led to Rome it is a parity 
of the truth to say that most roads in Scarborough 
lead to Dunstan's, but whether one will walk or ride 



196 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



is a matter of choice. For comfort and despatch the 
trolley is preferable, but for actual enjoyment in fine 
weather the road is to be taken, for there are several 
interesting spots past which To-day rushes with igno- 
ble haste. 

Going toward Dunstan's one's first landmark is 







SITE OF STORER GARRISON— SMALL BUILDING PART OF 
ORIGINAL BLOCK HOUSE 



Boulter's Creek. This is notable for the row of fine 
old willows that reach away southerly from the high- 
way toward the marsh over an easy slope of upland 
where amid a dome of tree tops is the so-called Kim- 
ball place. At the southerly corner of the unpainted 
house is a hollow in the grass from wliich not many 
years since were removed the last remaining oaken 
sills of Vaughn's garrison. One has come down the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 397 

old road to Winnock's Neck thus far, and beside it is 
a little one-story building that was once a part of the 
original garrison house. It was a notable stronghold 
and probably dates back to Robert ElUot, 1620, the 
grandfather of the Welsh Elhot Vauhgn who came 
here from Portsmouth in 1642. His father was Lieu- 
tenant Governor George Vaughn. Twelve years later 
Elliot Vaughn had returned to Portsmouth, but his 
son William kept to the garrison. 

Most of the block houses of the period were built 
of logs a story and a half in height, perhaps twenty 
feet on a side, with narrow sUts in the walls, embrased 
on the inside to an angle of about ninety degrees to 
command an ample range outwardly, but Vaughn's 
garrison was more ample for it accommodated eleven 
goodly sized families for a full seven years within its 
walls. It is known to some as the Storer garrison, 
but that is a misnomer, perhaps on account of its 
sometime occupancy in more peaceful days by Seth 
Storer. It was famous as being one of the earhest 
schoolhouses of Blue Point, as was the old meeting 
house at Black Point where Samuel Fogg taught in 
1741, to be paid "32 pounds in lumber for keeping 
the school 6 months." Quaint old days, to be sure; 
for four years before, Robert Bailey was paid seventy- 
five pounds for a year, in lumber, as schoolmaster. 
The first school was established in 1730 and carried 
on by the quarter, alternately, at Dunstan's and 
Black Point. Lumber was the current medium of 
exchange, but at what rate one can only surmise. 

Just over a shght hillock, after leaving Boulter's 



398 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



Creek, one crosses Mill Creek. Here just above the 
upper edge of the highway are the remains of an an- 
cient dam where was Harmon's grist mill, through 
the ruins of which breaks a purhng trout brook 
which swirls and eddies about a basin alder-rimmed, 




MILL CREEK— RUINS OF HARMON'S ANCIENT CORN MILL AND DAM 



that looks for all the world Hke a goodly pot of emerald 
dye so dense is the foliage over the stream and so per- 
fectly does it mirror each twig and leaf. Stepping 
from stone to stone in its sienna-painted bed to peer 
into the mill pond above is to discover nothing more 
than a jungle of matted alders which would daunt 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 399 

the spirit of the most inveterate angler. But the 
brook sings on its way, in and out, where shadows fall, 

"Thick as the autumnal leaves that strew the brooks 
In Vallombrosa, " 

and the restless trout dart across the translucent shal- 
lows or break water for the unwary fly, while the cat- 
birds and the brown thrushes eye the intruder askance 
for a moment and then the wildwood is agog with 
their melodious gossip. 

From the uplands near Mill Creek one sees the ver- 
dant slopes of Scottow's hill. It was the property 
of Abraham Jocelyn. Scottow had its two hundred 
rolling acres of Jocelyn. It is a sightly eminence 
crowned with a huddle of low roofs and domes of trees, 
and at its foot on the east is a fringe of evergreen woods 
that make a low-toned setting for the brilhant color- 
ing of the hillside beyond. In the immediate fore- 
ground is a rolling ground of fine fields and altogether 
the picture is a fair one to look upon. It is not m 
evidence that Scottow lived here any length of time, 
if at all, as he became engaged in an extensive trade 
at Black Point where he had numerous men and boats 
in his service, and though he has been described as 
a man "eminently rehgious in his habits," yet he was 
"presented" for riding from WeUs to York on the 
Sabbath in 1661. 

Here was a most hilarious demonstration upon the 
coming of the news of the surrender of Cornwallis. 
A great assembly gathered before the house of Solo- 
mon Bragdon, and while the tar barrels were burning 



400 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



at the top of the hberty pole on the hill, and over at 
the house of Lieutenant Banks the military were 
assembled where they consumed powder and liquors 
with unstinting generosity, in Bragdon's kitchen two 
of the staid citizens of the community mounted the 
kitchen table where they held a war dance that would 
have surprised the most agile of the savages who, 
years before, had danced about their fires at Win- 
nock's Neck. It was a wild time, for the celebrants 




TOMB OF KING FAMILY 



were not satisfied with wadding in their fieldpiece, 
but they filled it with muskets and fired them away 
into Nowhere. When the powder was gone the fiddlers 
got out their fiddles and rosined their bows and the 
good folk danced the night out. This somewhat 
modern instance is related as it seems to be about the 
only happening of the locality. 

It is a smoothly broad highway, this ancient toll 
road of Robert Southgate's. The town road was laid 
out somewhat farther north over the higher lands and 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



401 



was the first traveled way other than by the shore 
and the ferries from "Sacoe ffalls to Scarborough 
above Dunstan, and from Scarborough to Fahnouth." 
It was necessary " for the more convenient passage of 
strangers and others from Wells to Cascoe, the expe- 
dition wrof is daly liindered by observance of ye Tyde 
in travelling ye lower way wch by this means may be 




-^^, 



->c? 



RICHARD KING HOUSE, 1745 



pvented." It proved a roundabout way of travel, so 
the marsh was dyked and the salt creeks bridged and 
the Southgate toll road was open to the public. 

From either bridge one can see the gully, on either 
side of which the Algers had their cabins and just 
below them was the cabin of the first Richard King. 
At the same moment one gets the fine sweep of the 
marshes that are lost in the low perspective of the 



402 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

country about Foxwell Brook and the blue woods 
beyond that fade away into soft indistinctness in the 
mellow autumn haze. Winnock's Neck juts out on 
the left, a mass of autumn colors, all perfectly modu- 
lated to the gold of the ripened marsh grasses. Above 
the dyke and just around the buttressing liillslope, 
ragged with rank alders, are the Alger Falls where 
was Jewett's mill and where about 1718 Col. Thomas 
Westbrook had a saw mill until he went to Stroud- 
water to engage in the raid upon the Rale settlement 
at Norridgewack, but the Jesuit eluded him, only to 
fall three years later by the musket of Lieutenant 
Jacques of Harmon's company. The "upper falls" 
were somewhat above the Jewett site. It was there 
the second mill in old Scarborough was built, Jewett's 
being the third in point of time. In Westbrook's day 
there were numerous saw mills in Scarborough, the 
larger part being along the Nonsuch. Along the Non- 
such the timbers of numerous old dams have been 
found where the tides were stayed to turn here or 
there in their going the clumsy wheels that drove the 
like clumsy up-and-down saws with hoarse shrieks 
and groanings through the yeUow hearts of the giant 
pines that once covered these ancient lands of Black 
Point. They are the footprints long ago lost in the 
ooze of the marshes. 

One may listen for the rune of the ancient tide mill, 
but the water is past and the wheels forgot to turn 
with the pine lands stripped of their treasures. Here 
are the ghost walks of whilom Black Point, and it may 
be the wliispering of the aspen leaves one Ukens to the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 403 

scuffing of disembodied spirits. It may be the pound- 
ing of the blood against the walls of the ear. For 
that matter, it is what one Hkes best to think it, for 
the ghosts are really about one in these old places. 

Here is but a page of Scarborough's old-time ro- 
mance whose olden flavor is accentuated and ripened 
by a lapse of nearly three centuries. With kindred 
happenings of so long ago it is not easy to weave the 
old spell, for the charm of a story lies somewhat in its 
fluency, and it is not possible to crowd into a few pages 
the activities of two generations. Like a stream full 
to its banks where the bushes and the tall water weeds 




and the flaming cardinal flower droop to its brim to 
faintly ripple its serenity, where one hears the swish 
of the pendant boughs against the silence of the on- 
flowing tide, so in the story one's listening ear should 
catch the musical rhythm of each incident as it crowds 
the heels of its fellow. 

If the author in following the current of events at 
ancient Black Point has been able to lend to them 
something of life and some natural charm to his prose 
so that the ear of his reader has caught, if only in 
degree, the far-off sounds that were once audible to 
Margaret Cammock in the days of her widowhood, 
when Henry Jocelyn went a-wooing, his object has 
been accomplished; for out of the episodes of those 



404 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



olden days he has sought to twist a golden thread. 
One sees as through a glass darkly when one goes back 
over the years to the happenings of Jocelyn's times, 
and it is to be hoped as he has pushed his shallop 
through the surf of To-day into the wind-chopped 
waters of Yesterday, as the spray breaks over its 
dipping prow, one not only feels the sting of the salty 
brine, but as well catches the prismatic colors that 
like a hundred dripping dyes illumine each tiny drop 
of its opalescent wet. 




THE SOKOKl TRAIL 




HIRAM FALLS 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

iRADITION is a bald-pated 
fellow to go about with a 
crooked staff cut from the 
wildwood, with a knob of a 
knot to fit his fleshless palms 
wherewithal he may soften the 
stoop in his spine or hide the 
hitch in his gait. His note of 
acquaintance is pitched to a 
querulous complaining, and liis 
tongue is limber with the gar- 
rulousness of age. He loves 
his cronies best, and is ever ready with his tale, 
which he varies with faihng memory, and he is 
a dear old fellow, if he does get things mixed 

407 




408 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

somewhat. His intentions are honest enough, and 
"if Uncle Tommy White were aUve" he could prove 
the virtue of the tale. On the knife-scarred bench 
of the old store at the cross-roads in the lee of 
its ruddy stove, with feet outsprawled and head 
thrown backward to show the scrawny Adam's apple 
that like a slender hillock breaks the slimness of his 
wrinkled neck, he sits and dreams and mouths his 
brown quid between his toothless gums reminiscently 
until buoyant, red-cheeked Romance happens in, to 
half in derision, half in love, turn the spigot of the 
old man's tongue. It is then the old fellow, with a 
hint of drool on snowy beard, unrolls the tapestry of 
the old days the while one saunters, as it were, 
through the land of dreams. 

Like ravelings of old yarns that seem to have a be- 
ginning but never any end, the traditions of the Saco 
River and the lands round about it gild the days that 
were once of the country of Bygone and hover about 
the old habitats, as the mists haunt the tumbling 
waters about Indian Island, shifting, always shifting 
their dyes under the variant sky, and ever and alway 
the same mists since the Sokoki first paddled their 
birchen canoes down stream, upblown on the salt sea 
winds, to fall over the Saco woods in wreathings of 
invisible moisture — traditions that quickly respond 
to the sympathetic touch or flash upon one's surprised 
vision pictures whose technique is the atmosphere of 
centuries. 

Here is a land of tradition indeed, from the ill- 
starred day when the child-bereft squaw of Squando 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 409 

cursed the English for the thoughtless act of a boat- 
load of brutal sailors, to when the evening gun of Fort 
Mary sent its first echo, as the winds happened to 
blow, eastward to startle the silences of Black Point, 
or westward toward the sunset to arouse Storer's gar- 
rison from its drowsing within the darkening gloom 
of old Wells. 

The story of the Sokoki Trail begins for the reader 
about fifty years after 

"Traveled Jocelyn, factor Vines, 
Aiid stately Champernoon 
Heard on its banks the gray wolf's howl, 
The trumpet of the loon," 

The early Saco settlement was that of Vines and 
Bonython. Down to 1676 its tale was that of a con- 
stantly increasing aggregate of settlers. The open- 
ings in the woods had grown wider, while the cabin 
smokes had thickened, and the wdgwam of the Sacos 
kept the paleface company. One cannot do better 
than to just here quote John Jocelyn. His portraits 
of the aborigine are clear and withal quaint, and are 
evidently just. He says: "As for their persons, they 
are tall and handsome-timbered people, outwristed, 
pale and lean, Tartarean-\dsaged, black-eyed, and 
generally black-haired, both smooth and curled, wear- 
ing it long. Their teeth are very wliite and even. 
They account them the most necessary and best parts 
of man. 

" The Indesses that are young are some of them very 
comely, having good features, their faces plmnp and 



410 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

round, and generally plump of their bodies, as are the 
men likewise; and as soft and smooth as a moleskin; 
of reasonable good complexions, but that they dye 
themselves tawny; many pretty Brownetts and 
spider-fingered Lasses may be seen among them. The 
old women are lean and ugly. All of them are of a 
modest demeanor." 

As one goes across the continent, once upon the 
great western plains a glance out the car window may 
perhaps afford a ghmpse of a cluster of Apache tepees 
among the sagebush, and it is to be apprehended 
that the wigwam of the Sacoes was not much different 
from the tepee. Jocelyn describes the wigwam of the 
Saco tribe as built " with poles pitched into the ground, 
of a small form for the most part square. They bind 
down the tops of their poles, leaving a hole for the 
smoke to go out at, the rest they cover with barks of 
trees, and line the inside of their Wigwams with mats 
made with rushes painted with several colors. One 
good post they set up in the middle that reaches to 
the hole in the top, with a staff across before it at a 
convenient height ; they knock in a pin on which they 
hang their kettle, beneath that they set up a broad 
stone for a back, which keepeth the post from burn- 
ing. Round by the walls they spread their mats and 
skins, where the men sleep whilst the women dress 
their victuals. They have commonly two doors, one 
opening to the South, the other to the North, and 
according as the wind sets they close up one door with 
bark, and hang a Deer's skin or the like before the 
other." 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 411 

He makes note that he has seen " half a hundred of 
their Wigwams together in a piece of ground, and they 
shew very prettily; within a day or two they have 
dispersed," or in other words, they have folded 
their tents, Arab-like, and as silently, to follow Long- 
fellow, stolen away. They were the nomads of the 
wilderness, with "prodigious stomachs, devouring a 
cruel deal, meer voragoes, never giving up eating as 
long as they have it. . . . If they have none of this, 
as sometimes falleth out, they make use of Sir Francis 
Drake's remedy for hunger, go to sleep," which was 
a philosophical disposition of the situation, assuredly. 
He asserts the aborigine acknowledged "a God and 
a devil; and some small hght they have of the soul's 
immortality ; for ask them whither they go when they 
die, they will tell you pointing with their finger to 
heaven, beyond the WTiite mountains; and do hint 
at Noah's flood, as may be conceived by a story they 
have received from Father to Son time out of mind, 
that a great while ago their Country was drowned, 
and all the people and other creatures in it, only one 
Powaw and his Webb (squaw) foreseeing the Flood, 
fled to the White Mts. carrying a hare along with them 
and so escaped. After a while the Powaw sent the 
hare away, who not returning, emboldened thereby 
they descended, and lived many years after, and had 
many children, from whom the Country was filled 
again with Indians." 

Jocelyn calls them "poets," and says they reckon 
their age "by Moons" and their day's travel by 
"sleeps." These Indians about the Saco were typi- 



412 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



cal of the Abenake family of Maine. Before the 
plague of the smallpox found them they were a part 
of the most powerful and oldest Indians, from a racial 
point of view, from Cape Race. to Cape Cod. Cham- 
plain, writing of the Sokoki (and these savage clans 
about the Saco were of that family), says: "The bar- 
barians that inhabit it (the Saco country) are in some 
respects unlike the aborigines of New France (Nova 
Scotia), differing from them both in language and 




MOUNT WASHINGTON FROM THE SACO 



manners. They shave their heads from the forehead 
to the crown, but suffer the hair to grow on the other 
side, confining it in knots and interweaving feathers 
of various colors. They paint their faces red or black ; 
are well formed, and arm themselves with spears, 
clubs, bows, and arrows, which for want of iron they 
point with the tail of a crustaceous animal called 
signoc (Horse-shoe)." 
They were warUke, more so than their neighbors, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 413 

and the Massachusetts tribes were in constant fear 
of their forays. With the death of Paugus the Sokoki 
retired to Canada, where they were merged into the 
St. Francis tribe. It is in place to remark that the 
two most famous sagamores were Squando and Assa- 
cumbuit. The latter boasted he had slain with his 
own weapons one hundred and forty English settlers, 
for which atrocious service to the French he was in 
1706 knighted by Louis XIV. 

Suppose one runs down to Hummer's Point a little 
south of what is now Oak Hill, in old Oivascoag, now 
Scarborough. One will find a considerable bank of 
shells, the depth of which may be measured by feet. 

" This is the place . . . 

Let me review the scene, 
And summon from the shadowy Past 
The forms that once have been, " 

for it was here on this spur of land where was their 
principal village. It overlooked a wide reach of 
marshes, the river and the blue of the bay to the 
southward, while a natural bluff or ridge on the north 
gave it some protection from the winds of that quar- 
ter. Here was a great fishing resort and adjacent 
were the choice hunting grounds over which they 
roamed even after the Algers had induced Wackwar- 
rawaska to give them according to the latter's intent 
a coparcenary interest in their ancient heritage. 

Oivascoag (place of much grass) was a favorite place 
of resort with the aborigine. On the flatlands the 
signs of their occupation are everywhere to be found. 



414 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

At every turn of the furrow are deposits of the shells 
of the clam or the oyster, and now and then an old 
Indian relic is upturned. It is left for the plowshare 
to unroll the scroll of their unwritten annals, to bring 
to mind the bronze figure of the aborigine, his face 
smooched with the ochres he had discovered among 
the secret mysteries of Nature, or the lampblack from 
his council fire, a tuft of feathers of the hawk or the 
eagle woven into his top-knot, 

" leaning on his bow undrawn, 
The fisher lounging on the pebbled shores, 

Squaws in the clearing dropping corn, 
Young children peering through the wigwam doors, 

above the old Owascoag, 

"The faded coloring of Time's tapestry. " 

These shell deposits are especially abundant on the 
Blue Point side of the river, and here very many sug- 
gestions of Indian life, such as pipes, stone hatchets, 
pestles, and arrowheads, have been found. Not long 
ago an Indian grave was discovered on Winnock's 
Neck. "The skeletons were found in a sitting pos- 
ture, facing the South-East; walled in on the four 
sides with rock, and having a large flat rock over the 
head. The bodies were seated on the surface of the 
ground at the time of burial, the rocks placed about 
them, then covered with earth; forming a mound 
about 4 feet high." 

This was a typical grave and accords with the de- 
scription of the manner in which the savages disposed 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 415 

of their dead among the Sacos, as recorded by Joce- 
lyn. Down to 1671 this tribe had Uved in close prox- 
imity to the white settler. He had been a neighbor 
and at times rather free with the settler's larder, and 
it was only when King Philip engaged in his subtle 
machinations for the destruction of the English settle- 
ments that the friendship of the Sacos was likely to 
be broken, that the Scarborough planter was in peril. 
Squando was the sagamore of Saco. His influence 
was considerable and his liking for his white neighbors 
had led him to turn his back upon the arch conspir- 
ator of Mount Hope. Some hght on the character of 
this savage flashes from the lines of Cotton Mather, 
who describes him as a " strange, enthusiastical Saga- 
more, who some years before pretended that God 
appeared to him in the form of a tall man, in black 
clothes, declaring to him that he was God, and com- 
manded him to leave his drinking of strong liquors, 
and to pray, and to keep the Sabbaths, and to go to 
hear the word preached; all things the Indian did for 
some years with great seeming conscience observe." 

It was at this juncture when the settlers should 
have exercised the most pacific discretion that an 
untoward event occurred in which they had no part. 
It is a matter of tradition, but the episode may be 
taken to have happened, as its story has come down 
over a space of two centuries in the main unchanged. 
John Jocelyn in his notes describes the Indian as in- 
stinctively a swimmer, and it was a common behef 
that the papoose thrown into the water would swim 
naturally like a wild animal. It was at this time 



416 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

when Philip was plying Squando with his specious 
designs, that an English vessel blew up the river to 
anchor off Cow Island. Among the various diver- 
sions indulged in by the sailors was a controversy 
over the truth of Jocelyn's statement. It so happened 
that the squaw of Squando with her papoose had set 
out into the stream, whereupon the sailors manned a 
boat and pushed off to meet the Indian canoe. The 
Ught birchen craft was upset, throwing the mother 
and child into the water. The mother got to shore 
safely, but the papoose did not long survive the bru- 
tality of the Enghsh. 

Squando immediately, and perhaps not without 
some show of reason, declared himself ready to join 
Philip in his schemes of Enghsh annihilation. Not 
long after the Sacoes were scalping and burning along 
the entire coast to eastward. The tradition goes far- 
ther ; Sakokis, the mother, revolving her own scheme 
for revenge, sought out the medicine man of the tribe, 
whose wigwam overlooked the scene of the tragedy, 
and the great medicine man wrought a spell with his 
fire smoke, his blown-up bladder skins with their 
rattling peas inside, and his strange-smelhng herbs. 
When the signs came right in the sky, at that time 
of the night when to-morrow becomes to-day, he 
accompanied Sakokis to the place where the sailors 
upset the canoe, just where the waters smooth out 
below the falls, to begin his incantations. He chanted 
mystic gibberish and poured his oblation of "bad 
medicine" into the stream, which summoned his 
Satanic Majesty, Hobowocko, who cursed the spot 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 417 

roundly so that as long as the white man lives by 
Saco waters three of his hated race must each year 
drown in them. 

The older inhabitants about the Saco, when there 
is a drowning accident in its waters, will stop you and 
tell you this tale. They may not believe in the curse, 
but the romance of the story is always cutting its 
teeth. But there were other causes to which this 
outbreak was accredited. It may have been because 
the EngHsh were prohibited from selhng ammunition 
to the natives, and which was necessary to their exist- 
ence after their discarding of the bow and arrow. The 
English w^ere charged with ha\ing enticed some Cape 
Sable Indians into their power whom they sold for 
slaves. Doubtless some of the Narragansetts, who 
had been despoiled of their territory and driven to 
seek asylum among other tribes, found their way 
hither to the Sacoes and the tribes eastward, by which 
discontent and antagonism were fomented. There 
were causes enough with the rum selling and cheating 
which was accomplished under its influence, to forge 
the bond of alliance between the Sacoes and the An- 
droscoggins, and which resulted in the first outbreak 
at "Pegipscot." Thomas Purchas was the first suf- 
ferer in the raids of 1675, losing his ammunition and 
his cattle. The savages, when called to book, excused 
themselves by saying they had been cheated by Pur- 
chas, and were simply taking their own. It may be 
apprehended there was some truth in this, though it 
did not apply to Purchas personally. Then came the 
destruction of the Wakely family at Casco, which was 



418 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

followed by the attack on Saco. The house of Rich- 
ard Bonython was burned, also Major Phillip's mills. 
One or two other houses were burned, but the raid was 
ended by the major's promptness and courage. He 
had but ten men while the raiders could count a hun- 
dred painted devils, but he defended his garrison to 
such purpose that the savages soon withdrew into the 
woods to betake themselves to Blue Point, where 
they scalped Robert Nichols along with several other 
settlers. This was in September. From Blue Point 
the savages bent their course across the Mousam, 
leaving a trail of smoking cabins behind, to York, kill- 
ing and burning as they went. The following month 
they returned to the Oivmcoag country, falling upon 
Dunstan where they shot both the Algers, the same 
who had a deed of a thousand acres from Wackwar- 
rawaska. Here they burned seven cabins. Leaving 
Dunstan they next appeared at Falmouth, where the 
torch was put to Lieutenant Ingersoll's house and two 
men were killed. It is probable it was at this time 
the attack was made on Robert Jordan's house. Jor- 
dan had time to escape. This was burned, after 
which the savages turned up at Spurwink where they 
scalped the old ferryman, Ambrose Boaden. Jordan 
got away safely to Great Island in Portsmouth Har- 
bor. It was a serious inroad on the English, for it 
was computed that from the first of August to the 
latter part of November fifty settlers had been killed 
and scalped while many others had been carried into 
captivity. Only a severely cold winter that closed 
in very early and that by the tenth of December had 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 419 

piled the snow four feet in depth in the woods, put an 
end to these depredations. Squando was an active 
factor in these forays, but it was not until the next year, 
according to Willis, that the English sailors upset the 
canoe of Sakokis and her papoose below the Saco 
Falls. 

On account of the severity of the season the savages 
were obliged to sue for peace, which they entered into 
with Major Waldron at Dover. A permanent peace 
was agreed upon and the settlers lapsed into the accus- 
tomed feeling of security. The Sacoes and the An- 
droscoggins were the perpetrators of these tragedies 
of 1675, but in the succeeding onslaughts Madocka- 
wando and Mugg were to take their full share in the 
consequent violence and loss of hfe. 

The settlements away from the Saco River north 
and west were not so great sufferers as those along its 
banks or on the coast. The Indian made the river 
his highway. The same name, Aucocisco, was given 
to the Saco (meaning the mouth of the river) as to the 
waters about Casco Neck, It was in August of 1642 
that Darby Field followed the course of the Saco into 
the heart of the White Mountains. The story of the 
wonders he had seen, stimulated Thomas Gorges and 
a few friends to make the same venture the same 
season, which they did in fifteen days. 

John Jocelyn was the first to write out a narrative of 
a journey up the Saco, and one will find it in his " New 
England Rarites Discovered," which was published 
in 1672. It is an interesting story to one who is 
acquainted with the Relations of T. Starr King and 



420 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



Samuel Drake. From the author's point of view 
"The White Mountains" of the late Juhus S. Ward, 
have in that delightful writer found their most loving 
interpreter. 

Jocleynwas their appreciative observer, and a propos 



/^^ 




CHOCORUA FROM THE SACO 



of that gentleman one is put in mind of Don Quixote 
running a tourney with the windmill. Jocelyn was 
an inquisitive fellow, and always nosing about for 
rarities, withal something of a naturahst. He was 
mid-woods one day on one of his numerous excursions 
when he discovered what he took to be a new species 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 421 

of pineapple from its scales. Elated with his dis- 
covery, he made haste to capture the strange new 
fruit. Longfellow embalms the incident, 

" I feel like Master Jocelyn when he found 
The hornet's nest, and thought it some strange fruit 
Until the seeds came out and then he dropped it. " 

Jocelyn himself utters a plaintive note, "By the 
time I was come into the house they hardly knew me 
but by my garments." 

This visit of Jocelyn's to the heart of the White 
Mountains was of course made while an inmate of Iiis 
brother's household at Black Point, but it does not 
appear from any memoranda of his own in what year 
the ascent of the Saco was made. It was somewhere 
between 1663 and 1671, however. He had true 
spirit of the adventurer and the traveler, storing his 
memory with traditions and Indian lore. His de- 
scription of Mount AVashington, the first ever put into 
narrative form and pubUshed, is photogi-aphic, and, 
as being the earliest, is eminently quotable. He 
writes : 

"Fourscore miles (upon a direct line,) to the north- 
west of Scarborough, a ridge of mountains runs 
northwest and northeast an hundred leagues, known 
by the name of the White Mountains, upon which 
lieth snow all the year, and is a landmark twenty 
miles off at sea. It is a rising ground from the sea- 
shore to these hills, and they are inaccessible but by 
the guhies which the dissolved snow hath made. In 
these gullies grow savin bushes, which, being taken 



422 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

hold of, are a good help to the climbing discoverer. 
Upon the top of the highest of these mountains is a 
large level or plain, of a day's journey over whereon 
nothing grows but moss. At the farther end of this 
plain is another hill called the Sugar Loaf, — to out- 
ward appearance a rude heap of mossie stones piled 
one upon another, — and you may,, as you ascend, 
step from one stone to another as if you were going up 
a pair of stairs, but winding still about the hill, till 
you come to the top, which will require a half a day's 
time; and yet it is not above a mile, where there is 
also a level of about an acre of ground, with a pond of 
clear water in the midst of it, which you may hear 
run down; but how it ascends is a mystery. From 
this rocky hill you may see the whole country round 
about. It is far above the lower clouds, and from 
hence we behold a vapor (like a great pillar) drawn 
up by the sunbeams out of a great lake, or pond, into 
the air, where it was formed into a cloud. The 
country beyond these hills, northward, is daunting 
terrible, being full of rocky hills as thick as mole-hills 
in a meadow, and clothed \\ith infinite thick woods." 
The picture is a famihar one to any who have fished 
its streams or clambered up its bastions of rock, or 
taken the more convenient carriage road from the 
Glen, or the trestle road from Fabyans. His liken- 
ing its peak to a sugar loaf is apt, and the pool reflects 
the blue of the sky with every returning summer as 
the ice melts under its cairn of rock to supply the 
Summit House with the nectar of the gods. Far be- 
low in the lowlands where the Saco winds slowly 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 423 

through the intervales of Conway, old Pegwagget, 
was the home of the Sokoki. They were as well 
known by the name of the Pigwackets or Pequawkets 
(or white swan Indians, for the white swan was com- 
mon about Veazie's bog in Brownfield as late as 1785). 
The Anasagunticooks were of the same locale, and 
allied to the Sokoki as a branch of the gi'eat Ahenake 
family. Squando was one of the Sokoki sachems, as 
was Assacumhuit. So was Chocorua, who flung him- 
self from old Chocorua's topmost precipice to save his 
scalp from being taken by the English, sounding his 
dying curse as he tumbled to the spires of the forest 
far below; and the inveterate Polan who was killed in 
1750 in a fight in Windham along the shores of the 
great Sokoki water. Lake Sebago, and was buried 
under the roots of a beech tree, 

"And there the fallen chief is laid, 
In tasselled garb of skins arrayed, 
And girded with his wampum braid. 

The silver cross he loved is pressed 
Beneath the heavy arms, which rest 
Upon his scarred and naked breast. 

'Tis done : the roots are backward sent, 
The beechen-tree stands up unbent, — 
The Indian's fitting monument! " 

a spot awaiting its location by some pilgrim of ro- 
mance. 

Old Pegwagget was the Conway of to-day, and it 
was not until 1771, almost a hundred years after the 
first Indian assault on Saco, that the first white settler 



424 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



made his way through the wilderness to the Conway 
meadows, the emerald intervales of New Hampshire. 

Darby Field came here, as well as Gorges and Joce- 
lyn, when the Indians were actuated by the most 
neighborly of feehngs, and all three were doubtless 















CONWAY MEADOWS, PEGWACKET 

entertained at Pegwagget village, of which they have 
given us no particular description. Had they done so 
we would have marveled at the regularity of their 
streets along which stood their wigwams in regular 
order, a symmetrical convention of aboriginal dwell- 
ings and of such similarity with the exception of that 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 425 

of Assacumbuit, the sachem, which was more showy, 
roomy, and of gi-eater height. If Darby Field's mar- 
velous tales to his friends could have been taken in 
shorthand I apprehend he would have said something 
like this: "The houses were made with long young 
saplings trees bended, and both ends stuck into the 
ground. They were made round, hke unto an arbor, 
and covered down to the ground with thick and well- 
wrought mats; and the door was not over a yard high, 
made of a mat to open. The chimney was a wide- 
open hole in the top; for which they had a mat to 
cover it close when they pleased. One might stand 
and go upright in them. In the midst of them were 
four little trunches knocked into the gi-ound, and 
small sticks laid over, on which they hung their pots, 
and what they had to seethe. Round about the fire 
they lay on mats, which are their beds. The houses 
were double matted ; for as they were matted without, 
so were they within, with newer and fairer mats. In 
the houses we found wooden bowls, trays, and dishes, 
earthen pots, hand baskets made of crab shells 
wrought together; also an EngHsh pail or bucket; it 
wanted a bail, but it had two iron ears. There were 
also baskets of sundry sorts, bigger and some lesser, 
finer and some coarser. Some were curiously wrought 
with black and white in pretty works, and sundry 
other of their household stuff. We found also two or 
three deer heads, one whereof had been newly killed, 
for it was still fresh. There was also a company of 
deers' feet stuck up in the houses, harts' horns, and 
eagles' claws, and sundry such hke things there was; 



426 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

also two or three baskets full of parched acorns, pieces 
of fish, and a piece of broiled herring. We found also 
a little silk grass, and a Uttle tobacco seed, with some 
other seeds which we knew not. Without was sundry 
bundles of flags, and sedge, bulrushes, and other stuff 
to make mats. There was thrust into a hollow tree 
two or three pieces of venison ; but we thought it fitter 
for the dogs." (Mourt's "Relation.") 

This was the Ahenake shelter, except where in the 
winter the wigwam was a community affair, a long 
narrow hut in which many families w^ere hibernated, 
with as many fires and smoke holes. When the in- 
clemencies of the winter season prevailed these com- 
munes were infinitely more cheerful and warmer, and 
the Indian was notably a lover of his ease and his 
comfort. In a rude way they understood the arts 
and sciences. They were expert boat builders, tillers 
of the soil, and propagators of maize and pmnpkins 
and beans; they were potters w^ho shaped and burned 
their clay into trays, jugs, and pans; they were work- 
ers of stone, from which they made their hatchets, 
chisels, and tomahaw^ks; they knew the limited use of 
copper and obtained it from the Lake Superior tribes, 
who undoubtedly had a rude process of smelting. It 
is not certain that long before the white man began 
to bring them knives for their furs they had a metal 
knife. They were astronomers and could read the 
stars, and made the sun or the moon their timekeep- 
ers. The sun enabled them to subdivide the day 
while the moon marked the divisions of the year. Of 
all the Ahenake family, these Indians of the Pegwagget 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



427 



meadows, the aristocracy of the Sokoki race, were the 
most shrewd, subtle, and brave, unrelenting in their 
hatred, and bloodthirsty in their greed for kilhng, of 
the savages in the province of Maine, unless one re- 
calls the Tarratine wolves who fawned about the feet of 
the Jesuit Lauverjait, or the more un tameable Nor- 
ridgeivacks, who were satisfied with nothing less than 
hot English blood as the vehicle of the spiritual pap 







5 i:-^=4^-.l^^^•.,■,.ni''^^ 




WHITE HORSE LEDGE, PEGWACKET 



which they imbibed from Rale, who held them in 
leash as does the master of the hounds his dogs. 

While it is not within the province of this chapter 
to tell the story of the settlement by the white man 
of the beautiful Conway valley, and which was not 
accomplished until the latter part of the eighteenth 
century, yet it is a matter of co-relation in ways and 
means to refer to the three or four first adventurers 
in these parts, for that the pioneer hfe of the Copps, 



428 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Pinkhams and Crawfords, Rosebrooks, and Whit- 
combs was but a duplicate of that of the settlers at 
and about the mouth of the Saco. Those were the 
days of giants among men and women, and the tales 
of their doings remind one of the labors of Hercules 
and the other famous mythics that gilded the dreams 
of childhood with a halo of marvelous realities. 

Elwell says: "It required strength and courage to 
enter this wilderness, reduce the forests, encounter 
its savage beasts, overcome the awesomeness of its 
towering peaks, and endure the severities of its cli- 
mate." It was the same with those who made the 
Bonython settlement, except that the river had ages 
before swamped out a highway for it while the sea 
let in the sunlight for good cheer. Rosebrook, who 
built on the present site of the Fabyan House, once 
traveled eighty miles through the underbrush and 
over the fallen logs of a dense wilderness with a bushel 
of salt on his back, while about the same time Major 
Whitcomb toted a bushel of potatoes fifty miles 
through the same wilderness, which he planted on his 
new lands to harvest the succeeding autumn a hun- 
dred bushels. Benjamin Copp was the first settler of 
Jackson. He went in 1778 to build his cabin beside 
the Ellis, twelve years before the next settler joined 
him in his lonely companionship with Nature. The 
nearest mill was ten miles away, to which he many a 
time carried on his back a bushel of corn to be ground, 
toting his meal home on his shoulders, less the toll 
which the miller took for the grinding, which in those 
days was a tenth. The Pinkhams, for whom Pink- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 429 

ham's Notch was named, made their way thither on 
snowshoes, with the snow levels of five feet in depth 
choking the woods with their immaculateness. This 
was in 1790, and their team comprised a hog, and a 
handsled upon which all their household goods were 
carried. Their log hut had been built before them, 
but they found it buried in the snow. It was the 
rudest of shelter, ^vithout chimney, window, or other 
means of lighting except the smoke-hole in the roof 
and the ill-fitting door that gave them entrance. 

Ehjah Dinsmore with liis wife made their way, 
eighty miles, through the dead of winter on snow- 
shoes to their cabin, which had been log-piled the fall 
before, the husband carrying on his back the house- 
hold Penates in a great bundle. They slept at night 
in the open air on the snow, reheved perhaps by a 
thick matting of spruce boughs with a huge fire at 
their feet. One can see him at the end of the day's 
toilsome trudging through the thick woods searching 
for some sheltered nook where he would camp for the 
night, fumbling with his stiffened fingers for his box 
of dried punk and his flint and steel with which to 
start his fire. What a grateful incense that must 
have been, the first smoke of the Fire Spirit which he 
so carefully and sacredly guarded, as the swift twilight 
fell athwart the great forest, the interminable wilder- 
ness that environed him? I imagine Mrs. Dinsmore 
brought the dry limbs to throw them on the fire, with 
a gi'ateful acknowledgement to the Hand that grew 
them. One listens with an entranced mental vision to 
the inspirations of a Mendelssohn as interpreted by a 



430 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



Gilmore or a Ghericke, but the music of that crack- 
hng flame to the ears of the Dinsmores was the music 
of the spheres. 

Then came those giants, the Crawfords; but it was 
left to hunter and backwoodsman Nash to discover 
the head waters of the Sokoki Trail, the springs above 
Crawford's Notch where the beautiful Saco is born. 
These were a hardy race, yet they were only the fol- 




WADSWORTH HALL 



lowers of Vines and Bonython and their contempo- 
raries from whose loins they sprung. If the pioneers 
about the upper waters of the Saco felled the primeval 
woods and burned them, to plant amid their blackened 
stumps, so did they who lived about the shadows of 
Indian Island. It was not long ago that the annual 
" burn" was a common thing in Maine. Such is even 
within my recollection. It was the only way of re- 
claiming wild lands, by which the acres of tillage and 
pasturage were to be increased. 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 431 

As I recall one of these old "burns," and I have 
known of several, it is not difficult to paint the picture 
of the widening acres that let the summer suns in 
upon the low roofs of the cabins of these first settlers 
about the mouth of the Saco. It was nearly fifty 
years ago on the hilltop in the middle of the large 
farmlands which I first knew as a boy, that there 
stood in a compact massing of verdure some five 
acres of primeval beech woods, the same that grew 
there when the first settler in the township spent his 
first night in the lee of a boulder hardly a rifle shot 
away from their shadows. As if there were not tillage 
lands enough, it was determined that this beauty 
spot must be eradicated from the face of the earth it 
had so long adorned. One June day when the foliage 
was in its garb, the woodchoppers began on its north- 
ern edge to fell these gray Druids. The huge trunks 
were all dropped in the same direction, and the dese- 
cration of Nature was followed up so thoroughly 
that before the month was out not a tree was left 
upright. Day by day the leaves wilted, to turn to 
amber hue under the sun, and finally after the summer 
work was well done, and the wind came right, rolls of 
birch bark were lighted and a half dozen iconoclasts, 
disposed at nearly regular intervals of distance about 
the periphery of this doomed land, dropped their 
brands' ends here and there on the run until the outer 
rim was ablaze. Then with a roar that was like an 
agonized cry, the fire swept upward pyramid-like into 
the sky to choke it with a huge pall of yellow smoke. 
An hour later where was once the verdure of the cen- 



432 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



turies, was a flat expanse of dull, charring skeletons 
and a stretch of fire-blackened scurf. For days, 
until the rains came, wreaths of smoke curled from 
here and there, some lodgement of the smouldering 
fires that were nothing more than the ghosts of its 
olden rinds of gray once scarred with many a jack- 





GEN. PELEG WADSWORTH 



ELIZABETH BARTLETT, 
HIS WIFE 



knife initial that the years had distorted into illegible 
hieroglyphics. 

Then the rains came, and the smokes were dead. 
Then began the "piling," and as the spring opened 
and the dry south winds drunk up the saps of winter, 
these piles were burned. When the leaves on the oak 
trees were of the size of a mouse's ear, the rick hoes 
were got out, and the men with pouches tied about 
their waists filled with the golden Indian corn went 
over this black ground a-row. A crevice was cut into 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 433 

the dusky scurf, and four yellow gi-ains dropped there- 
in to be pressed down with the sole of the boot, and 
in this way the "burn" was traversed until the rick 
had been planted. It was the olden pioneer way, 
and by mid-July the corn was hip high, singing the 
same song its ancestors sang by the banks of the Saco 
in the days of Bonython, and what a mass of dusky 
Hving green it was! And then it threw its tassels to 
the winds; and as the frosts came, in their stead were 
the yellow wigwams of the corn-shocks, and then the 
old-fashioned huskings, the pleasure gatherings of 
the early days that took the place of the modern 
swallow-tail functions with their interpretations of 
"full dress" by its femininities that would have made 
their grand-dams throw their hnsey-woolsy aprons 
over their abashed countenances in sudden dismay. 
But those old days by the Saco, their strenuous 
labors were sweet ! They were 

"Apples of gold in pictures of silver." 

In reference to the garb of these pioneers, a ruling 
of the Massachusetts General Court of September 3, 
1634, and which after 1652 was the law of the Maine 
province of which Saco was the central settlement, 
ordained, "that no person, either man or woman 
shall hereafter make or buy any apparel, either 
woolen, silk or hnen, with any lace on it, silver, gold 
silk or embroidery, under the penalty of the forfeiture 
of said clothes. Also all gold or silver girdles, hat- 
bands, belts, ruffs and beaver hats are prohibited. 
Also immoderate great sleeves, slashed apparel, im- 



434 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

moderate great rayles, (neckerchiefs,) long-wings, 
etc. 

" Hereafter, no garment shall be made with short 
sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arm shall be 
discovered in the wearing thereof." 

A drastic prohibition, verily. 

Henry Jocelyn alludes to Saco about 1670. He 
says, "About 8 or nine miles to Eastward of Cape 
Porpus is Winter Harbor, a noted place for fishers, 
here they have many stages. Saco adjoins to this 
and both make one scattering town of large extent, 
well stored with cattle, arable land and marshes and 
a saw mill." Twelve years later there were three 
mills at Saco. Cotton Mather says that Captain 
Roger Spencer was the subject of the first entry on 
the Saco Records, its date is September 6, 1653, and 
was a permit to Spencer to set up a saw mill within 
the town limits in consideration " that he doth make 
her ready to doe execution within one year." It was 
a daughter of Spencer's who married Sir William 
Phipps, for her second husband. 

The story of these years from 1675 toward the 
middle of the eighteenth century is one stained with 
the same dark tragedies that floated down the Saco 
River, the Androscoggin, and the Kennebec, alike 
the highways of savage incursion. 

Here is an expression of the anxieties of the days 
of the earhest of the savage raids, WTitten two days 
after the second attack upon Casco. It is super- 
scribed " ffor the Honored Governor and Counsell for 
the Matachusets at Boston, With all speed." 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 435 

" Honored Governor together with the Counsell. 
" I am sorry my pen must bee the messenger of soe 
greate a tragedye. On the 11 of tliis instant wee heard 
of many killed of naybors in Falmouth or Casco Bay, 
and on the 12 instant Mr. JosUn sent mee a briefe let- 
ter written from under the hand of Mr. Burras, the 
minister. Hee gives an account of thirty-two killed 
and carried away by the Indians. Himself escaped 
to an island — but I hope Black Point men have 
fetched him off by this time — ten men, six women, 
sixteen children, Anthony and Thomas Brackett and 
Mr. Munjoy his sonne onely are named. I had not 
time to coppye the letter, persons beinge to goe post 
to Major Waldron; but I hope he hath before this sent 
the originall to you. How soon it will our portion 
wee know not. The Lord in mercy fit us for death 
and direckt ye harts and hands to ackt and doe wt is 
most needful in such time of distress as this. Thus 
in hast I commit you to Gidance of our Lord God and 
desire your prayers alsoe for us. 

Yours in all humility to serve in the Lord 

Brian Pendleton." 
Winter Harbor at night 
the 13 of August 1676." 

Peace was entered into the following winter, but it 
was of short duration, for on the 13th of May, 1677, 
a considerable force of Indians under the leadership 
of Mugg appeared before the Jocelyn garrison at Black 
Point and began an assault. Mugg found in Lieuten- 
ant Tippen different metal from his old neighbor 



436 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Jocelyn. This assault was persisted in for three days 
with the result that the garrison lost four men — 
three shot and one captured. Hubbard refers to 
this event: "On the 16th, Lieut. Tippen made a suc- 
cessful shot upon an Indian that was observed to be 
very busy and bold in the assault, who at the time 
was deemed to be Symon, the arch villain and incen- 
diary of all the eastern Indians, but proved to be one 
almost as good as himself, who was called Mugg." 

Mugg was a dreaded foe, way-wised as he was in 
the habits of the English, both as to their manners, 
persons, and language. His death caused the savages 
to take to their canoes to paddle away southward. 
After this the people about the Saco had a brief re- 
spite. 

One is reminded of these lines, 

"Who stands on that cliff Uke a figure of stone, 
Unmoving and tall in the hght of the sky, 
Where the spray of the cataract sparkles on high, 
Lonely and sternly save Mogg Megone?" 

The romantic tale of the poet and his heroine, Ruth 
Bonython, the wild flower of the Saco woods, the 
daughter of outlaw John, is a tragedy of those days 
in verse. The poet has taken gi-eat liberty with his 
subject, as another might have done. But Ruth 
Bonython was doubtless the "Eliner Bonython" who 
for her lax morals was condemned to stand in a white 
sheet for three Sundays in church. 

Whittier closes his drama with the final act amid 
the rough scenery of Norridgewock in the latter part 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 437 

of August, 1774, an entre act of forty-eight years, dur- 
ing which Bonython's daughter had paid the penance 
of her misdeeds in the midst of her more moral Scar- 
borough neighbors. His tale is a series of wild pic- 
tures, from the moment he hears the 

"whistle, soft and low," 

when a flame of savage satisfaction hghts 

"the eye of Mogg Megone! " 

when Johnny Bonython steps out the shag of the 
woodland shadow into the broken shaft of moon- 
light. Bonython was the "character" of those days, 
and was dubbed an outlaw and a renegade by the 
General Court, and Bonython hurled back in return 
his defiance of their edicts. He was the son of 
Richard Bonython, or Bonighton, the co-grantee 
with Lewis of these Saco lands. He became one of 
the able magistrates of the province, but the son was 
a most obstinate, and by some alleged degenerate 
offshoot of a respectable family. His tongue was a 
limber one, and it was no respecter of persons. He 
was fined forty shilhngs in 1635 by the court for dis- 
orderly conduct by complaint of his father, and as 
well in 1640 for vituperative language toward the 
Rev. Mr. Gibson and his wife, Mary, and later still 
he was fined for the seduction of his father's serving 
maid. This offense was not uncommon and one 
recalls with reluctance the seduction of Mary Martin, 
the daughter of Richard Martin of Martin's Point 
beyond Casco Neck, by Michael Mitton. Poor Mary 



438 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Martin went to Boston to hide her shame, and there 
was guilty of the crime of infanticide for which she 
went to the scaffold. This is apparently the only case 
of infanticide of that early period. The morals of 
the time were rather loosely drawn, and of which 
George Burdett stood for a notable exemplar. John 
Bonython was not a whit behind his predecessors in 
his seeking out the fleshpots of Egypt. Outlawed in 
1645, he defied all law and a price was eventually 
put upon his head. He went by the sobriquet of 
"Sagamore of Saco," and his epitaph, evolved by 
some wag of the time, has preserved his memory 
which his misdeeds should have obliterated. 

"Here lies Bonython, Sagamore of Saco; 
He lived a rogue, and died a knave 
and went to Hobomoko, " 

is his waggish memorial. 

He contrived after a fashion to acquire a consider- 
able estate. Whittier admits that he has taken some 
freedom to himself in his story of Ruth Bonython, 
and it may be that Bonython had from the Indians 
a portion of his real estate, for he Hved away from his 
kind in the seclusion of the forest which has covered 
the events of his life in obscurity. The tradition is 
that he was killed by the Indians, but Folsome doubts 
this. It is wholly a matter of conjecture. 

As to the characters introduced by the poet, I find 
no mention of Scamman by either Willis, South- 
gate, or Bourne. Folsome makes no mention of 
such a character. Hunnewell would have been more 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 439 

in keeping with the character of Moulton and Har- 
mon. The Scammons were Saco Quakers, and we find 
one of Arnold's regiments commanded by a Colonel 
Scammon, but that is all. It has often occurred to 
the writer that here were the materials for a stirring 
drama, but as yet they have been unused. Whittier's 
"Mogg Megone" as tragic verse is picturesquely 
fine and powerful from beginning to end, although 
it would stand some slender cutting. 

Here is something Hke. The deed of the land is 
signed, and Mogg has succumbed to drunken sleep. 

"With unsteady fingers, the Indian has drawn 
On the parchment, the shape of a hunter's bow, " 

and Bonython has the land. He has no further use 
for Mogg, 

"For the fool has signed his warrant. " 

It is then the spirit of murder enters the heart of 
the outlaw 

"He draws his knife from its deer-skin belt, — 
Its edge with his fingers is slowly felt ; — 
KneeUng down on one knee, by the Indian's side, 
From his throat he opens the blanket wide;" 

but his hand stays its murderous stroke. 

One can hear the drawn breath of Bonython as he 
draws back from this drunken magnet which is to 
draw the steel to it as certainly as the needle points 
to the pole. 

The silence is broken by the trenchant voice of the 
girl, the once mistress of the man whose wet scalp 



440 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

hangs at the side of Mogg and who has but one 
thought — to avenge her lover. The firehght was 
red, just as the poet said it was. The walls and the 
ceihng were red, as was the fire; and there was the 
smell of a foul deed in the rum-savoured air of that 
close cabin, — 

"Mogg must die! 
Give me the knife!" 

and into the girl's heart has come the spirit of 
Scamman. She has spoken, but it was Scam- 
man's voice; and Bonython, coward-like, turns 
away to see 

" on the wall strange shadows play. 
A lifted arm, a tremulous blade, 
Are dimly pictured in light and shade, — " 

and as he watches the pantomime 

"Again — and again — he sees it fall, — 
That shado^\y arm down the hghted wall!" 

The door creaks on its rude hinges. There is a 
burden of unnatural sounds on the air. It might 
have been the passing of Mogg's troubled spirit out 
the narrow Untels of Bonython's door and which 
seems always to have kept the fleeing Ruth untiring 
companionship. But Bonython 

"is standing alone 
By the mangled corse of Mogg Megone. " 

Here is tragedy, as \-i\'idly painted as if the painter's 
pot had been filled with the purple tide of Mogg, and 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



441 



each brush mark had betrayed a pulse beat. And 
what a setting, the lone cabin in the dead of a wind- 
less night, ^^•ith only the shivering leaves that kissed 




ARTIST'S BROOK, CONWAY 



its roof, its dusky eaves, and the bare walls within, 
to share the vengeance of Ruth Bonython. 
Her burden is heavy. 



442 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

"O. tell me father, can the dead 
Walk on earth, and look on us!" 

she cries to the Jesuit in his Norridgewock chapel; 
for she has dreams of childhood, and the lingering at 
her mother's knee. 

" Sweet were the tales she used to tell 

When summer's eve was dear to us, 
And fading from the darkening dell. 
The glory of the sunset fell 

On wooded Agamenticus, — 
When sitting by our cottage wall, 
The murmur of the Saco's fall, 

And the south wind's expiring sighs 
Came softly blending on my ear, 
With the low tones I loved to hear; " 

yet, she was spurned by the Jesuit. 

As one thinks of Rale and the part the poet makes 
him play in this latter scene, one hears the shots of 
Moulton pattering on those chapel walls, and sees 
the stalwart form of Lieutenant Jacques breaking the 
shadows of its dimly glowing candles, and Rale goes 
the way of Mogg, and there comes out of the lull in 
the battle in echoing word, — " Vengeance is mine 
saith the Lord, I will repay!" 

But the Saco of today — one cries out in 
vain, — 

"Raze these long blocks of brick and stone, 
These huge mill-monsters, overgrown; 
Blot out the humbler piles as well, 
Where, moved Uke living shuttles, dwell 
The weaving genii of the bell," 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 443 

and let the floods of the melting snows in the heart 
of the mountains, where the Saco has its birth, sweep 
its stout dams to seaward; and then, 

"Wide over hill and valley spread 
Once more the forest, dusk and dread, 
With here and there a clearing cut 
From the walled shadows round it shut ; 
Each with its farmhouse builded rude, 
By English yeoman squared and hewed, 
And the grim flankered block-house bound 
With bristling palisades around. 
So haply, shall before thine eyes 
The dusty veil of centuries rise. 
The old strange scenery overlay 
The tamer pictures of to-day. 
While, Uke the actors in a play 
Pass in their ancient guise along " 

the old-time figin-es, so difficult now to recall. 

If one could with a wave of the hand and a bit of 
magic incantation cause the walls of the machine 
works on the Saco to fade and swing back the years to 
1693 one would see the first fort built on the Saco 
River. Pliilhps' garrison house could hardly be 
called a fort, but old Fort Mary was a fortification 
of stone, and invulnerable from the savage point of 
view. There was a truck house on the easterly side 
downstream where the Indians brought their furs. 
It was regarded as quite an important matter, the 
estabhshment of this particular truck house, for it 
was thought by the commissioners that those at Kit- 
tery and Pemaquid were sufficient; but the Indians 
prevailed, and tliis emporium of barter was built. 



444 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

Its site can now be traced. Fort Mary was a veritable 
city of refuge in the troublous times following its erec- 
tion, but was demolished in 1708 and its available 
material was removed to Winter Harbor, where a 
stronger defense was erected, the remains of which are 
still to be distinguished after so many years. If you 
should happen at the house in Biddef ord where it is to 
be seen, you might hold in your hands for a moment 
the homespun dress once worn by a lass who knew 
Fort Mary as a girl, and if you could translate the 




FORT MARY, 1699 



story written within the rim of the bullet hole in the 
skirt it would tell you of two girls who ventured with- 
out the walls of the old fort, and mayhap they were 
after the first blooming arbutus. Anyway, they were 
discovered by some prowling savages. Young women 
were an especially coveted prey, and the savages laid 
a plan to capture them unharmed. The wits of the 
girls were not so slow but they took the alarm and ran 
at deer pace for the fort. One of the savages sent a 
musket ball after them, and this hole in the skirt was 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 445 

where the bullet sculptured its fateful message. It 
was a landmark of the times, this old stockade of rock, 
and many a legend had its birth about its rugged walls. 
After the fort at Winter Harbor was built the tide of 
savage conflict was shifted nearer the sea, and it was 
here the inhabitants were congi'egated for safety. 

In 1730 a blockhouse was built farther up the river. 
In close proximity is an old graveyard, and beside it 
may still be seen the cellar where the blockhouse 
stood as late as 1820. It was originally fortified with 
cannon, which were mounted to be served from port- 
holes in the upper story. These comprised the gov- 
ernment defenses in this immediate neighborhood. 
As the tide of savagery shifted, levies were made upon 
these forts and the men were sent where they were 
most needed, and upon short occasion they were not 
spared. 

Those were days of temporary dwelhngs. They 
were thrown together at haphazard, covered with 
bark, for their builders knew not when the woods 
would echo with the whoop of the Sokoki, who left 
always a trail of smoke to indicate their passing. It 
was essentially a one-room cabin, scant in the necessi- 
ties of living, and limited in its accommodations for 
the ever increasing family. Race suicide had not 
then loomed up as a threat to the social fabric. At 
this day the things those people did and the things, 
they did without, smack of the land of GulUver; and 
though they did not succeed in extracting sunshine 
from cucumbers, they certainly derived a deal of it 
from Nature, with all the swift vicissitudes of life -^ 



446 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

the perils of necessity, exposure, -wild beast, and sav- 
age reprisal. One wonders what they did when the 
services of a physician were necessary, as they must 
have been at times, except that these were the " pen- 
nyrial" days, when the old woman and her herbs were 
the potentials ; when a sip of wintergreen was always 
asteep on the hob and a swallow of thoroughwort was 
worth more to a man's liver than the entire contents 
of a modern drug store. The secret of it all was, good 
habits, abundant occupation, a purpose in life over 
which stark necessity held a taskmaster's whip. The 
very simplicity of their living made most of the ills 
to which their posterity have become endemic impos- 
sible. They were immune against the epidemic. 
Death was unavoidable, but it consorted usually with 
extreme old age, if Nature were not interrupted by 
accident, and it was not for years that the wan face 
of the consumptive became common, and not then 
until the viriUty of the race had become affected by 
the privations or excesses common to the middle 
pioneer period. The men were hard drinkers and they 
dalhed long at their cups, and the only reason Nature 
did not succumb sooner was that there was no clay 
in the molasses and the rum was as good as the 
molasses. Adulteration is largely responsible for the 
ills common to humanity; even one's habits are not 
immune to adulterate morals. 

But many of the clergy of the older days knew 
something of physic, and their healings were extended 
to the body as to the soul. From a glance at the early 
court records it would seem as if there were a deal 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



447 



of tinkering to be done with so many cracked reputa- 
tions, but one passes lightly and hastily over those 
blurs upon an otherwise strenuous page to conjure up 
the strangeness of the country and the, to ourselves, 
strangeness of the people. 

One would greatly enjoy rapping upon the cabin 
door of young Nick Edgecombe where he took the 
lovely Wilmot Randall, to have stepped in upon 




SACO BLOCKHOUSE, 1730 



them at their first "at home" for a look about the 
homely and scantily furnished interior, to take a seat 
on the wood settle before the wide-mouthed fireplace 
to watch the old-fashioned great fires leap up 
the "catted" chimney of cobbled sticks smeared with 
clay, to catch the song of the steaming kettle on the 
pothooks, and to ruminate on the dimensions of the 
wood pile and the cost of supplying this black maw, 
and the length of time it will take to denude the 
woodlands. How one would have hked a taste of 



448 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

their venison fry, and a bite of corn cake baked in 
the ashes. To have broken bread with them at their 
humble board would have been a revelation ; and that 
linsey-woolsy dress, that held within its seams this 
dainty EngUsh flower, to have held a shred of its 
sturdy fabric between one's thumb and finger would 
have sent shoddy to the rag bag. There is a ripple 
of girUsh laughter, a bar of sunshine on the floor, and 
when young Nicholas is about, the fullness of living 
swells up in her heart; and as for Nicholas, he holds 
the title in fee absolute to the fairest possession in the 
province. 

The setting may be rough, but the picture is an idyl- 
lic one. 

In these days what could one do without the 
pomme de terre hot from the oven, so that 

" Whenne yee be sette, your knyf withe alle your wytte 
Vnto youre sylf bothe clene and sharp conserve, 
That honestly yee mowe your own mete kerve?" 

The first dehcious tubers were brought into the 
province in 1719 to be planted on Cape Ehzabeth soil 
and from whence they were distributed over the ad- 
joining townships. They were indigenous to the 
Andes to be taken to Europe by the Spaniards. They 
were exported from Virginia to England in 1586 
where they were undoubtedly traced to the Spaniards. 
Peter Martyr describes them, " They dygge also owte 
of the gi'ound certeyne rootes growynge of theim 
selues, whiche they caule Botatas. . . . The skyn is 
sumwhat towgher than eyther of the nauies or mussh- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 449 

eroms, and of earthy coloure: But the inner meate 
thereof is verye whyte." 

So it was nearly a hundred years after the coming 
of Richmon to the Isle of Bacchus before this vege- 
table came into table use among the settlers, and it 
was the rugged fare of the samp mill, the rude 
mortar and pestle, and the wild game of the woods 
that went to make the bone and sinew of this hardy 
race. The surgeon who goes a hunting for the vermi- 
form appendix nowadays would have found his chief 
quest in the days of corn meal in the diligent search- 
ing out the settlement poorhouse, of which it is 
recorded there were none for many years. The 
idlers were few, for labor was sweeter than the con- 
tumely of the stocks, pillory, or the whipping post. 
In that regard the Puritans were wise law-makers. 

But this Sokoki Trail is a thread upon which are 
strung hosts of legends. Just above the gateway 
of the Notch is a basin of water, a patch of sky that 
has nestled down amid the sedge and alders of the 
plateau that slopes downward from the Crawford 
House to merge into the gray shadows of Mount 
Willard and the boulder-choked gorge above which, 
hke a bristling Briareus, towers the bastions of 
Elephant's Head. It is a wild and ragged trail 
through which seep the waters to emerge below Uke 
a broken vein. Through this gloomy gorge, narrowed 
to a stone's toss, is compressed the pathway of its 
historic stream, the yellow grit of the team ruts, and 
the attenuated lines of steel where runs the Smoking 
Horse. It suggests Dante's descent to Hades. A 



450 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

minute's walk, and a wondrous vision opens, and it is 
here the Saco becomes the visible strand of silver that 
ever and anon widens out with the accretion of its 
mountain brooks that break the silence of every 
mountain gully with an audibly tuneful rhythm, in- 
terpreting one's thought as one listens, to enforce 
upon one's self the overwhelming sense of the individ- 
ual insignificance. 

As one breaks the imprisoning walls of the gateway, 
not far below, nestled among the greenery of the val- 
ley, is the Willey House ; and here is the track of the 
Willey slide of 1826, the scar of which remains — a 
callous on the face of the mountain — that crawls 
from its base up, like a tawny lizard, leaving a trail 
so hke itself as to seem a string of hzards. As one 
looks at this scar it seems almost to undulate lizard- 
Hke. 

It was a wild storm that smote this mountain to 
break from its granite masonries the two huge ava- 
lanches that swooped down upon the swollen Saco 
that August night. Had Willey remained in his 
wooden shell with his family, the story would have 
been of a mighty throe of Nature. As it was, the 
family, Willey and his wife, five children, and two 
hired men, lost their wits and rushed out into the 
impenetrable obscurity of the night, and a tragedy 
was written amid the debris of the mountain and 
almost at the threshold of the old house which to-day 
marks the scene. Only the house dog, which in some 
way was unable to follow his master, was found in the 
house by a traveler who happened over the road. 




MOUNT WILLEY 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 461 

For a long time the old rookery was shunned as a 
thing accursed. It was known as the Notch House; 
but time healed the gap. Nature assumed to cover 
up the evidence of her crime with a more riant verdure, 
while the river kept to its gurgle and ripple over the 
rocks that choke the river bed, the same that came 
off Mount Willey that fateful night. Nor would one 
surmise but Nature had ever held herself a benign 
mother to her trustful children ; for right here, up and 
down the valley of the Saco, is a beautiful and pictur- 
esque, and striking in its mountainous solidarity and 
massiveness, outlook. Even when the sunshine floods 
the valley it is a land of somber shades, and but for 
the waters that seem everywhere to be inlaying the 
mountain sides with sinuous strands of silver, trick- 
ling silently, or boiling and foaming, or tossing and 
writhing like Prometheus bound amid the anchored 
rocks, it is a land of dumb soUtudes, and a land of 
wreathing mists. It is no wonder that the Sokoki 
peopled it with evil spirits as they did, or that they 
pointed toward it when they were asked where their 
heaven lay. 

Somewhat below the Willey ruin is Bemis, where 
Nancy's Brook comes hurthng down from Nancy's 
Pond that has its rise under the shadows of Nancy's 
Mountain. It was in the seventeen hundreds, in 
point of time, that over Jefferson way there lived a 
mountain lass whose Christian name was Nancy. 
She had a lover, a young man who helped about the 
farm. The day was set for the marriage, and the 
twain were to set off for Portsmouth where they were 



452 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

to be made one. She had for a marriage portion a 
small sum of money. This she intrusted to her swain. 
With the money the fellow stole away from the farm, 
leaving Nancy to conjecture as she pleased as to his 
intents. But Nancy who was a resolute young woman, 
kin to the natures which had bent their plowshares 
to the rugged lands of this mountainous country, 
determined to bring her recreant lover to terms if 
love had not yet lost sway. Intrepidly, despite the 
protestations of her family, she set out that nightfall 
to overtake him. 

Her road was but an obscure trail and but little 
traveled. It was thirty miles to Bartlett, and not a 
single habitation. Wild animals roamed the woods 
that lay between, and the winter had set in. Once 
out upon the trail the girl sped on buoyed by the hope 
that she might find her lover camped for the night in a 
rough shelter which had been built beside the trail. 
On she strode, shod with hope, down the gray shadows 
of the Notch, to ford the ice-cold Saco, plunging 
through the clogging snows, to find the camp where 
were some smoking embers and the silence of deser- 
tion. Without resting she pushed on over the trail 
until worn and weary she fell upon the marge of the 
brook, which has since borne her name. Here they 
found her under the sheltering spruces with the 
feathery snow for her snood of maidenhood. Tra- 
dition has it that the lover, when he became aware of 
the fate of his betrothed, his victim rather, found his 
burden too heavy, and wandering to the scene of 
Nancy's tragic end filled the silences of its dreary 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



453 



wilderness with his maniac shriekings until death 
released his ghost which, according to Belknap, in 
1784 still preyed upon the superstitious denizens of 
these mountain fastnesses, and who besought him to 
lay the uneasy spirit. 

But here is a milder legend of these Saco waters. 
"Wlien the savage inliabited these waste places, under 
the shadows of one of these everlasting hills Uved an 




ECHO LAKE 



Indian family. Its ornament was a daughter of 
peerless charm, who was adorned with an intellect in 
perfect accord with her personal beauty. Her father 
was unable to find in his own or the neighboring 
tribes a suitable mate for his jewel. Like a zephyr one 
feels for a moment on his cheek, that speeds on 
into the nowhere, this beautiful girl had disappeared. 
Unceasing was the search, and as disappointing. 
Her dainty moccasin had left no trace on the forest 
floors, and in time the tribe came to mourn her as one 



464 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

lost. Finally some of the hunters of the tribe who had 
gone out in quest of venison found themselves beside 
a babbling stream and there they saw the long-lost 
maid bathing in the soft waters, and with her was a 
youth of a beauty to match her own, with flowing 
hair, as black and silken and long as her own. Sud- 
denly they disappeared in the depths of the trans- 
lucent pool, and as the hunters hastened to look into 
it they saw only their own swarthy faces and the 
pictured fohage over their heads. When they got 
back to the village they told their story, and the 
relatives at once knew her companion as one of the 
kind spirits of the mountain, and thereafter they 
adopted him as their son. When they were in want, 
they called upon him for moose, and bear, and other 
game, and beside the stream told him of their desires, 
and lo, the animal would be seen swimming toward 
them to be captured and slaughtered. As one reads 
this, one calls to mind the tales of the brothers Grimm 
and the marvels of the Hartz Mountains. 

Here is the haunt of the artist and the romancer 
ahke. Only the brush of the dreamer has place here. 
These mountains are as far beyond the mechanical 
reproduction of the camera as they are beyond the 
finger tips of an observer in the valley. So the Saco 
made the trail of the Sokoki down through these nar- 
rows of mountainous shag, to blend with the emerald 
of the Conway intervales, still flowing seaward to 
drink the water among the hills of Fryeburg that has 
lapped the sands where Chamberlain and Paugus 
washed their muskets one eventful afternoon. Love- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



455 



well's Pond in Fryeburg was once known as Saco 
Pond, and it was here the Sokoki fought their last 
battle, after which they vanished, with the exception 
of old Molly Locket. 
There is an account of this battle written, so it is 




alleged, by one Thomas Symmes, a local annalist of 
Dunstable, and he is said to have gleaned his account 
from Captain Seth Wyman, who brought the com- 
pany home from the Fryeburg woods. Lovewell 
left Dunstable for Pegwagget around April 16, 1725 
with forty-six men. Symmes says, "Saturday, The 



456 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

eighth of May, while they were at Prayers, very Early 
in the Morning they heard a Gun ; and sometime after 
spy'd an Indian in a Point, that ran out into Saco 
Pond." Upon conference, it was determined that the 
gun was a ruse. Love well ordered the men to lay 
down their packs, on the supposition that the savages 
were before. It was a question of fight or retreat. 
They looked to the primings of their guns, and loosened 
up their auxiUary weapons, knives, and axes. Then 
they began their march, exercising the greatest 
caution againt a surprise. 

Symmes says: "WHEN they'd Marched about a 
Mile and a Half, or two Miles, Ensign Wyman spy'd 
an Indian coming toward them, whereupon he gave 
a sign, and they all squat and let him come on; pres- 
ently several Guns were Fir'd at him ; upon wliich the 
Indian Fir'd upon Captain Lovewell with Bever shot 
and Wounded him Mortally (as is supposed) tho he 
made little Complaint, and was still able to Travel, 
and at the same time Wounded Mr. Samuel Whiting ; 
Immediately Wyman Fir'd at the Indian and Killed 
him; and Mr. Frie and another Scalp'd him. 

"THEY then March'd back to toward their Packs 
(which the Enemy in the meanwhile had seiz'd) and 
about Ten a Clock, when they came pretty near where 
they'd laid 'em on the North East end of Saco Pond, 
in a plain Place, where there were few Trees and 
scarce any Brush; The Indians rose up in Front and 
Rear, in two Parties, and toward the English Three 
or Four Deep, wi their Guns Presented: And the 
Enghsh also Presented in a Moment and ran to meet 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 457 

them; and when they came within a few Yards they 
Fir'd on both sides, and the Indians fell amain, but 
the English (most if not all) 'scap'd the first Shot, and 
drove the Indians several rods. But the Indians 
being more than double in Number to our Men, & 
having soon killed Captain Lovewell, Mr. Fullam, 
(only Son of Major Fullam of Weston) Ensign Har- 
wood, John Jefts, Jonathan Kittridge, Daniel Woods, 
Ichabod Johnson, Thomas Woods and Josiah Davis; 
and wounded Lieutenant Farwell, Lieutenant Rob- 
bins and Robert Usher in the place the Fight began. 
The Word was given, to Retreat to the Pond, which 

was done with a great deal of good Conduct, and 
prov'd a vast service to the EngHsh (in covering their 
Rear) tho' the Indians got the Ground where our Dead 
lay. 

" THE fight continu'd very Furious & Obstinate, till 
towards night. The Indians Roaring and YelUng 
and Howhng hke Wolves, Barking hke Dogs, and 
making all Sorts of Hideous Noises ; The Enghsh Fre- 
quently Shouting and Huzzaing as they said after 
the first Round. At one time Captain Wyman is 
Confident they were got to Powawing by their strik- 
ing on the Ground, and other odd Motions, but at 
length Wyman crept up toward 'em and Fir'ing 




458 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



among 'em, shot the Chief Powaw and brake up their 
Meeting. 

" SOME of the Indians holding up Ropes ask'd the 
Enghsh if they'd take Quarter, but were Answer'd 
Briskly, they'd have none but at the Muzzle of their 
Guns." 

The spirits of these brave men were of an indomi- 
table character reenforced by a sense of the injuries 




w- io&^ir, ^,.,cL 



inflicted on the settlers, and as well by the detestable 
treacheries practiced by the savage. They had in 
mind as well the raid on Dunstable of two years before 
and the two captives who were spirited off into the 
wilderness, and for whom they held an avenging hand. 
There was no faith to be placed in any offers of quar- 
ter, and the thirty-four rangers had begun the fight 
with these words falUng audibly from their lips, when 
Lovewell queried of them if it were " Prudent to ven- 
ture an Engagement," — "We came out to meet the 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 459 

Enemy; we have all along Pray'd God we might find 
'em; and we had rather trust Providence with our 
Lives, yea Dy for our Country, than try to Return 
without seeing them, if we may, and be called Cow- 
ards for our Pains." 

Of the forty-six men who left Dunstable, ten were 
left at a so-called fort a half day's tote back the trail. 
Upon the remainder fell the brunt of the Indian am- 
bush at Battle Brook. In the ambush eight men 
were killed and three WQunded. About mid-day 
Chaplain Frye was killed, a Harvard graduate, and 
a young man of great encouragement to his compan- 
ions, who, as Symmes says, "When he could Fight 
no longer, He Prayed Audibly, several times, for the 
Preservation and Success of the company. 

" 'TWAS after Sun set when the Enemy drew off, 
and left our men the Field ; And it's suppos'd not above 
Twenty of the Enemy went off well. About Mid- 
night the EngUsh got together, and found Jacob 
Farrah, just expiring by the Pond, and Lieutenant 
Robbins, and Usher unable to travel. 

"Lieutenant Robbins desir'd they'd Charge his 
Gun and leave it with him, (which they did) for seys 
he, The Indians will come in the Morning to Scalp 
me, and I'll Idll one more of 'em if I can." 

There was one man of them who showed the white 
feather, and who at the first signs of an ambush took 
to his heels backward over the trail to the fort " and 
gave the Men Posted there such an account of what 
had happen'd that they all made the best of their way 
Home." 



460 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

This was Benjamin Hassell, who, it seems, was 
never punished for his desertion. 

To John Chamberlain has been given the tradi- 
tional credit of kilhng the noted Paugiis, where they 
were alleged to have gone to clean their muskets. It 
was close by the mouth of the brook they met, and 
each lost no time in his desperate exercise. Each 
poured his powder and rammed home the ball simul- 
taneously, and the ramrods dropped to the sand. 

"Me kill you!" yelled the savage Paugus, priming 
his musket from his horn. 

"The chief hes!" challenged Chamberlain, dropping 
his musket breech sohdly on the hard sand to fill the 
pan with its priming. A moment later his gun was at 
his shoulder and his bullet had found the heart of the 
savage, and the backbone of the fight was broken. 

A pretty tale and a tragic one to tell by the ^\^nter 
fireside, but its truth is doubted. Symmes made no 
mention of it, but gives to Wyman the credit of 
bringing off his remnant of nine unliurt and eleven 
wounded, of which latter all are said to have found 
nameless gi-aves by the way. It is recorded that 
Chamberlain was somewhat a courtier of the bowl 
that inebriates, and that when in his cups he was 
a boasting sort of a fellow; but had there been any 
truth in the tale so oft told by Chamberlain, the quaint 
Symmes w^ould have made some note of so important 
a turning point in the conflict. The probabilities are 
that while the fact that Paugus was shot in the melee, 
the excitement of the moments that were hedged 
about with such desperate deeds and a Uke imminent 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



461 



danger, would preclude any individual claim to the 
distinction awarded to Chamberlain. 

It was in 1624, less than a year prior to this fight 
by the waters of olden Saco Pond, that Moulton had 
exterminated the Jesuit Rale and his nest of Nor- 
ridgewocks. This was an important factor in the 




LOVEWELL MONUMENT 



destruction of the French influence. Rale had held 
them within the glamour of the beautiful service of 
his reUgion, all of which had appealed strongly to 
their mystic or superstitious side. No doubt but 
Rale looked upon them as the legitimate weapons of 
the Church Mihtant of which he was a vicar; but the 
Enghsh had learned the wiles of the Indian and were 



462 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

able to meet him on his own hne of skulking tactics. 
It was then the savage found a foe of which he had 
need to be wary, for if the moccasin of the Indian 
was as hght as a feather, Moulton's trod upon air. 
With Lovewell's intelligence it has always seemed 
singular he .should have been open to so common a 
ruse as drew him into the ambush that cost him his 
life. 

This fight at Lovewell's Pond broke the courage 
of the Sokoki ; nor was it long before they had dis- 
appeared from their old haunts about Pegwagget, 
unless it was that one solitary remnant of the once 
greatest family of the Abenake race, who had her 
home in a deep cave under the shadows of Jockey 
Cap according to tradition, and of whom the tale 
runs that when her husband came down to see her 
from Canadian St. Francis he brought another squaw. 
Molly wished to accompany her savage mate back 
to the headwaters of the St. Francis and her husband 
suggested that the two squaws fight it out. Which- 
ever overcame the other should be his squaw. The 
squaws began the contest for supremacy and poor 
Molly lost the day. Her husband, who had been 
a passive onlooker of the fray, immediately betook 
himself, with his second choice, Canada-ward, while 
Molly, lone and discarded, kept to her cave under 
Jockey Cap, where she was ever after feared and 
avoided as a witch. 

The story of the Sokoki Trail begins and ends with 
tragedy. WTiere its waters are born out of the bow- 
els of the earth, from Nancy's Brook, Willey's Shde, 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 



and Lovewell's Pond, along its stately flood are deeps 
of shadows, as well as the high hghts of the cheerful 
and life-giving sunshine. Its waters are colored with 
legends which they whisper to the overhanging foli- 
age as they flow. They have Hstened to the savage 
councils of the Pigwackets whose hke savage errands 
they have borne to the affrighted settler of ax and 




BATTLE BROOK 

torch; they have heard the chant of the savage over 
his dead, the low mourning note of the captive. All 
these they have carried silently to the sea, unless 
the roar of Saco Falls has blended all in one, to make 
interminable elegy upon the days that have forever 
passed away. Its incidents are as numerous as the 
opalescent hues that mark each facet of its broken 
w^aters. 



464 THE SOKOKI TRAIL 

It is in these days a stream of noisy thrift, and one 
seldom recalls the byways of the Vines settlement at 
Winter Harbor, narrow and sunny as its wider 
thoroughfares are to-day. Its mastyards have gone 
the way of its blockhouses and the huge shafts of 
its forests; and its romance of Mary Garvin, and its 
fishing-stages, yes, and those who laid the sills of 
its first houses. For the towering giants of the olden 
woods are the stacks of the factory smokes. 

"The land lies open and warm in the sun, 
Anvils clamor and mill-wheels run, — 
Flocks on the hillsides, and herds on the plain, 
The wilderness gladdened with fruit and grain. " 

One is forced to query with Cobbler Keezar, 

"Would the old folk know their children? 
Would they own the graceless town, 
With never a ranter to worry, 
And never a witch to drown? " 

I really do not think they would, and moreover, I 
am sure they would be afflicted at once with nostalgia 
in its most acute form. But throw the lapstone, 
as did Keezar, down the hill into the river; for one 
has done with it. I do not think it was quite so genu- 
inely good as that of Keezar's. Its fault was its 
modern make, hardly to be concealed by its well- 
simulated mold patches on its brazen hoop. But 
one sits always on the bank Uke the idle fisher to 
dream of those olden days, and the pictures grow 
until one's brush is worn down to a stub, for it is 
always the olden Saco keeping its way to the curv- 



THE SOKOKI TRAIL 465 

ing bay where Vines furled his dun sails in the ripen- 
ing autumn of 1616, whose romance comes with 
every reddening leaf of the maples, to bloom anew 
with every bursting bud. 

"And still in the summer twilights, 
When the river seems to run 
Out from the inner glory, 
Warm with the melted sun. 

The weary mill-girl lingers 

Beside the charmed stream, 
And the sky and the golden water 

Shape and color her dream. " 



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